You Only Live Once
by Lapis Love
Summary: Damon becomes a vampire again and discovers Bonnie has been taken to be sold as a slave, but learns almost at the last minute she was taken strictly because of her virgin status. Will he save her virtue or take it himself? Set during Midnight.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I started re-reading Midnight again and thought that scene where Damon saved Bonnie from slavery in the dark dimension could have gone in a much deeper direction. This is a possible three-shot. Not intending for this to be long at all. Thanks for reading!**

Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. No copyright infringement is intended.

The market really was no place for a vampire with his pedigree but Damon had some last minute errands to run as his way of saying thanks to M. _le _Princess Jessalyn for making him vampire again. He ran a pale white hand down the sleeve of his uniform and tuned out the cacophony that surrounded him. It was the same hogwash he was sure that happened day in and day out, people bartering for goods, people begging for a hand out.

Damon had to hop out of the way or he would have crashed into the back of two, what he supposed were noblemen. They were dressed in rich tunics of orange and red which naturally looked washed out because of the blood-red sun that hung in the sky.

Briefly he overheard their conversation.

"…there is even rumored to be a redheaded virgin among them."

"Been a fortnight since I've seen scarlet hair. _Real _scarlet hair," replied his companion.

Damon immediately froze, took a minute to pause as he shamefully remembered that he had abandoned Bonnie in an apartment housing that was really the slums if he wanted to be technical about it. Quickly in his mind he calculated how long he had left her there. It couldn't have been more than a few days, but he in essence got what he came back to the dark dimension for and saw no need to extend his stay. It was time to go get her.

He didn't bother looking around as he lifted from the ground and flew out of the marketplace amongst the disapproving gasps that followed in his wake.

When he arrived at the apartment to find it empty and Bonnie gone, furious with his own carelessness in leaving her unprotected, and pissed that the landlady had failed in what he generously paid her to do, Damon had no qualms about wrapping his hand around her neck.

"Where is she?" he demanded his eyes looking like black holes of death.

The landlady tried to explain herself but Damon was only half listening by this point. All she knew for sure was that Bonnie convinced her ninny of a nephew to let her go the bathroom alone, and then that was it. There had been no sign of her.

Damon dropped his hold on the old woman, still tempted to throttle her. But it was this question that really made Damon want to kick his own ass for his stupidity and his impertinence.

"If she's so valuable to you, why did you leave her _here_?"

Good question, he'd give her that but not one he'd give an answer to.

Dread entered his belly and Damon had a fairly good hunch on where he would find Bonnie and when he got there, depending on whatever condition he found her in, it would not be pretty.

* * *

_They won't stop touching me. They won't stop touching me. Please, stop, _played over and over again in a loop in Bonnie's mind as she stood before a large crowd all of them men or some variation of man as they greedily picked through the girls who had been wrangled off the streets. Bonnie had survived through her share of life and death situations, but this was different. This was a wholly different violation that would leave scars no one would be able to heal with pain killers, not even vampire blood.

She kept her face blank although on the inside she was falling apart like puzzle pieces. All Bonnie wanted was a moment alone to think and retrace her steps to find out exactly how she got to this place. She could blame her moment of weakness on the star balls Damon had left behind to offer up some form of entertainment. Now she wished she hadn't sat there and played those stories out and gotten a hankering for a sugar plum, and left the faux safety of the apartment. She wouldn't be standing in front of this crowd in a gown so sheer that there wasn't a secret left to hide.

With her arms she tried her best to conceal her smallish breasts and of course that triangle of red curls and she tried her best not to have a psychotic break which she suspected was already happening. This crowd of ruffians apparently were used to seeing half naked to fully naked girls and really didn't pay much attention to that, but what they appeared to be obsessed with was her skin and her hair.

When she first got to this massive slave warehouse, blood hounds with red eyes sniffed each, individual girl and if the mutt tapped its foot on the pavement three times the girl was thrust out of line and ushered off to another part of the building. Naturally when the hound reached Bonnie and tapped its paw, she felt all the blood in her body drain away. Bonnie was shackled and manhandled to another part of the building and she wondered if she'd be cast into a large fire for being defective or whatever the inspection was about, or if she'd be eaten by an oversized owl.

Her feet carried her despite the fact all she wanted to do was faint. The scent of perfume was heavy in the air that it made her sneeze.

Bonnie was pulled inside what she could only describe as some industrial sized wash room. Girls in various states of nudity where being scrubbed until their pale skin glowed and then ushered down the assembly line where they were dried and oil was rubbed into their skin.

Her clothes were stripped and she allowed herself one scream of mortification as she was violated with a rough scrub brush.

Constantly she shouted for Damon, cursed Damon, plead with Damon to come and rip the ceiling off this place and rescue her from whatever fate had planned for her next. Nothing but silence followed and after awhile her "mental" voice was beginning to sound hoarse and she just gave up.

She was beyond terrified, there really was no word to describe how Bonnie felt. She thought constantly of what Elena and Meredith would do if they were here. First of all, Elena and Meredith wouldn't have allowed themselves to be put in this situation to begin with. Bonnie moved her thoughts along because she felt her hysteria bubbling right under the surface.

More than likely Elena would have found an ally, a girl who was just as fed up with this treatment and the two of them would have led a raid, and Elena would have freed everyone with the promise to get revenge on those who sold them off as property. That's what her brave, do-gooder friend would have done, but Bonnie realized one terrifying fact.

She wasn't Elena. And she couldn't lead a rebellion.

Bonnie perked up a tiny bit when she reached the clothes part of the assembly line. Some of the dresses she saw were mostly togas and they were beautiful if not a little rundown, which this told her they were second probably third hand dresses. They were nothing like the gowns that Lady Ulma had designed for her.

Again, her throat grew tight. Damon could have easily snuck her to Lady Ulma's where at least she would have been safe, comfortable, and living in the lap of luxury. But no, he was only focused on himself, did the best he could by her—in his mind at least, and whatever he had gone off to do he took her ring so she paid for his little "vacation". He owed her several explanations and several apologies.

Bonnie's eyes searched through the racks and she came to the startling realization that the gowns only came in three colors and one style: white, off white, and beige, and diaphanously sheer. Was she going to be given undergarments?

Her panic renewed and this time she allowed her face to show just exactly how terrified she was as fat, demanding tears ran down her molten cheeks.

"I think we got a runner," said one of the brusque maids or whatever the female body builders were supposed to be.

Bonnie was poked hard on the shoulder as she stepped into the area where a gown was selected for her. It was a beige A-line number that left her shoulders exposed, but tied around her neck, and was cinched at her waist with a wry piece of gold metal. It was long and covered up her feet with fabric left over to pool around her. Her cheeks reddened because essentially you could see everything in the right shade of light.

She was pushed to the makeup station where she was powered and covered with gunk so thick she began to feel like a plastic doll. Her hair was twisted into something of an elaborate updo leaving her neck exposed, and finally she was sprayed with enough perfume that if a mosquito decided to make a meal out of her, it would die of poisoning.

All of that had taken place maybe an hour ago. Bonnie had been lined up with the other chosen females and wondered what was it about them that made them so "special".

Well, it didn't take Bonnie long to figure that out. As she discreetly looked down the line at the other twenty or so girls, they all kind of looked like her. Frail, terrified of the world and their shadow, trembling and trying their best to remain brave when all they wanted to do was faint. Completely and totally _innocent. _

Oh, God, Bonnie said mentally as two steel doors were opened and an influx of men entered the place. Her female handlers from earlier barred the way from the men instantly coming up to the girls to select the ones they wanted.

Bonnie didn't listen to the speech or she should say list of rules that were given. All she really kept paying attention to was the fact if it weren't for the flimsy gown she'd be standing before these men completely naked. If it weren't for the fact she couldn't feel her legs she would have been a puddle on the floor.

Bids were thrown out and the two men who called the number first where then left to barter amongst themselves for whichever girl was up for sale.

The bile rose in the back of Bonnie's throat since she was almost next to last in line. This bought her sometime and if and that was a pretty big _if _Damon was looking for her, he'd get here before the men turned their lust filled eyes on her.

* * *

He interrogated the shop owner who sneered and said he had been well within his rights to stun Bonnie and report her as a runaway slave and was completely unapologetic for his actions. Damon hunted the streets for an informant desperate to find out where a girl like Bonnie might be taken to get auctioned off.

It sounded so…archaic when he thought of what could potentially be happening to Bonnie right this second as he stood on the street corner in his handsome uniform trying to assert his authority.

Damon found a creature that kept its eyes to the ground but its ears on everything around it. He pulled the man by his moth eaten cloak and flashed his canines.

"If you want to live to see tomorrow I need you to tell me everything you know about virgins being sold."

The man hemmed and hawed and finally coughed up the details. The location of those "special" sales changed bi-weekly but was typically held in one of two places. Damon curtly nodded his hand and threw a handful of coins at the creature before he was off again.

The first place he checked was naturally empty and unfortunately Damon had to kill a group of vagabonds that attempted to mug him. That helped ebb some of his frustrations and aggression but probably cost him some time. Grunting he headed to the other location where he heard the cackling sounds of men who didn't know what was coming for them.

Damon entered the warehouse and pushed his way to the front. He ignored the names that were thrown at his back because he had one simple goal in mind.

However, when he reached that goal and his eyes zeroed in on Bonnie and more to the matter the men _touching _Bonnie and that empty, helpless expressionless expression on her face as if she were no longer living inside her own body, Damon snapped. He snapped even more when he realized she stood before the peasants in a gown so sheer no woman unless she was a prostitute would ever wear. He could see everything! And if he could see, _they _could see.

His grits was cooked!

Damon's elbows smashed into noses, breaking them causing blood to spurt in the air. Limbs were pulled from sockets, heads literally rolled, blood coated nearly everything and he hadn't even gotten started yet. Those who put their filthy, grubby hands on Bonnie got it the worst.

Ogres came left from right to stop him and the assault he was leading, but Damon was simply too far gone in madness in his bloodlust to realize he probably just put Bonnie in more danger. But he couldn't let those curs touch her, defile her, take her innocence away, not while he still had life in his body.

Damon had some authority here. He was the chief guard of M. _le _Princess Jessalyn although technically Bonnie wasn't her slave, and she wasn't his either but they didn't need to know that. They would have to let her go.

He reached for Bonnie after letting out a snarl so feral that it silenced the madness that ensued as a result of his attack.

"She is _mine_ and if you dare touch her consider your life forfeit!" he warned menacingly.

Bonnie felt arms like steel bands wrap around her and pull her off the platform she stood on. Her eyes remained blank and Damon felt horror squeeze his heart. He had no idea what could have been done to her and what she just narrowly escaped though he was smart enough to figure it out.

"I am so sorry, red bird," he said into the shell of her ear fully prepared to fly out of this place, but the female handlers pulled out stun guns aimed right for his head and nuts.

"She's the property of this sector now, vampire. Let her go."

Damon graced them with his award-winning smile before he blasted the entire place with enough power it knocked those who had remained standing to the ground. In less than a nanosecond he was gone and had a heroic thought of burning the entire building to the ground but there was no need for the other maidens still trapped inside to die because of his impulsiveness.

There was only one safe place in this entire F-ed up dimension Damon could think to take Bonnie to. He headed towards the upper crust of this backwoods place, Lady Ulma's.

* * *

Vaguely Bonnie was aware of the fact that she was in Damon's arms and he was flying across the dark dimension. If she were still sane she would have taken the time to appreciate how romantic this moment was, but instead Bonnie was trapped inside that special place where no one and nothing could hurt her.

Damon repeatedly tried to speak to her but Bonnie said nothing. He even reached out to her mind via telepathy and ran into nothing but walls.

He cursed inwardly wondering how much damage had been done to her psyche all because of him.

Damon arrived at the gate at Lady Ulma's, pressed the buzzer to garner her security person's attention and waited impatiently. His eyes constantly checked Bonnie for any sign or flicker of recognition that she was safe and the worst was over.

Her face remained blank.

"Yes?" a disinterested voice asked.

"This is Damon Salvatore friend of your Mistress tell her to open the gate. I have someone in need of…medical attention."

Damon found himself waiting longer than he expected to wait before he heard Lady Ulma's voice over the intercom.

"Is this really Damon?"

"Yes, Lady Ulma. I have Bonnie with me and well she's not good. May we have sanctuary here?"

"Yes! Of course!" the woman replied hastily and then the gates were parted and Damon stormed up to the front door which was thrown open.

Damon stood in the foyer and ignored the opulence of this place. Things had changed little since the last time he was here. He zapped his eyes to Lady Ulma as she rushed from some part of the house, two maids and a manservant following close behind her.

Panic and fear washed over the distinguished lady's face. "What happened to her?" her eyes ran over Bonnie and she noticed the attire and the bands wrapped around Bonnie's wrists identifying her as a slave.

"Take those off of her," Lady Ulma demanded. Damon didn't trust Bonnie's legs to hold her up so he lowered them both to the floor where he easily snapped off the plastic bands. He had hoped that would kick start something in Bonnie, stir something but it didn't.

"Godfrey," Lady Ulma addressed the manservant, "please show Mr. Salvatore to the washroom. Ladies," she gestured with her hands for them to take Bonnie into their custody.

Damon shot up to his feet, still cradling Bonnie. "No, I'll carry her. Just show me the way."

The maids lowered their eyes and briskly showed Damon upstairs to a large bathroom that reminded him of the Sistine Chapel. He held Bonnie as the two women feverishly ran around the room collecting towels, robes, bath gels, and other tonics as they turned on the faucet to the huge tub centered in the middle of the room.

They lit candles and then called for two musicians to come. He thought Bonnie would like the atmosphere and she'd slowly begin to defrost. He sat down with her on a chaise as the two women continued to fuss around in the back.

"You're safe, Bonnie. It's okay. You can relax now," he told her soothingly.

Bonnie didn't blink or utter a single syllable. Inwardly, Damon sighed and figured he'd give her just a little more time.

He understood perfectly that Bonnie was the easily frightened type. He could only imagine the horrors she cooked up inside that beautiful brain of hers of what she might be forced to do if she had been sold as a slave. Just thinking about the kind of man who would show an interest in Bonnie and what he might have her do made Damon want to kill again.

One of the maids stood before Damon and curtsied. "The bath is prepared," she said.

Damon stood and lowered Bonnie's legs to the ground. Surprisingly she didn't topple over, but remained stoic on her feet. He turned his eyes away as the ladies began to undress her, and he didn't turn back to look until Bonnie was submerged chin deep in water and bubbles.

With her in safe hands Damon wanted his own shower. His uniform was caked in entrails and well it kind of ruined the whole look.

The manservant, Godfrey had remained outside of the door waiting for him. He showed Damon to his sleeping quarters and before Damon dismissed him, he requested that Bonnie be placed in the room across from his.

Damon found a closet full of clothes—black clothes—all the pieces adequate enough to get him through the next few days. He sat down on the edge of the bed glad he didn't feel adrenaline the way humans did or his limbs would have been shaking uncontrollably. When he closed his obsidian eyes all he saw were those men and their hungry stares and their disgusting hands touching Bonnie.

His gums throbbed as the base part of him wanted to go out, seek, search, and destroy, but Damon had killed enough. He was sure he had assassinated a few nobles and was fairly certain he was now a fugitive. He'd have to keep a low profile. But there was no way he was going to pay _any _kind of reparations. He had been merciful not to do what he initially wanted to do.

Damon rose from the bed again. This kind of thinking would only serve to upset him more and set him back. His main focus should be on reaching out to Bonnie, bringing her back from that dark place.

He disrobed and entered the luxurious bathroom and took a shower. Blood didn't always easily wash off skin and Damon found himself scrubbing until he was sure he had removed a few layers of his flesh. As the water grew tepid he stepped out, toweled himself dry yet discovered he couldn't look himself in the eye.

Damon had been selfish quite possibly his entire life. Today had only been such a glaringly obvious testament of that fact. He wanted to be a vampire. He wanted to make himself good enough for Elena again. He didn't want to be vulnerable to his enemies. He needed vampirism because being a human was worst than being dead. And he didn't care who got in his way because he had plans.

If the events that happened today had happened say a few months ago, he probably would have left Bonnie to the masses and whistled his way back to earth, back to Fell's Church. But he couldn't do that now. Bonnie was delicate, fragile but also strong. Stronger than she had given herself credit for and it was a strength he often mocked, took advantage of, and took for granted. He could only guess at what she might be feeling or thinking, and none of it made him feel any better about himself. Well, he had an eternity to make it up to her, that is, if he could reach her.

Damon dressed and bounded down the hall where Bonnie was just coming out of her bath wrapped up in a fluffy bathrobe, her red hair tied up in a towel, warm slippers on her feet, that blank expression on her face. He sighed almost dejectedly and followed her in the bedroom which was right across from his.

The maids pulled the drapes back to allow the sunlight to filter in the room but all it did was cast everything into a maroon haze.

Bonnie sat down on the edge of the bed and kept her eyes planted on nothingness.

Damon heard Lady Ulma approaching and she was wheeling something into a room. It was a rack full of gaudy and casual dresses. Several of her jewelry making apprentices followed after her carrying one ornate box after the next. Damon could only guess at the treasures that laid inside.

"Bonnie, my dear I made these dresses just for you in the off chance you might find yourself back here. I wish it had been under much better circumstances but…"

Bonnie didn't even glance at the rack.

Lady Ulma flashed her eyes towards Damon who hunched a shoulder. "Let me have a moment with her," he said dismissing everyone from the room.

Damon didn't move from his spot until the double doors closed behind him. He headed over to the rack and inspected the choices. Lady Ulma knew how to design to bring out a woman's best features.

All of the dresses had been cut and tailored to make Bonnie's slight body look fuller and more womanly than it presently was. And each of them had a wild design that he was sure would compliment Bonnie's red hair and pale skin. Damon selected a simple yet elegant turquoise sheath. He went over to the jewelry boxes that had been placed on the vanity counter and rifled through them until he found gold hope earrings and an elegant wreath necklace that was inlaid with pearls and turquoise stones.

"I think this will look beautiful on you," he laid the dress out on the bed and placed the jewelry down right next to it.

Bonnie didn't even turn around to see what he had selected.

He sat down beside her and reached for her hand. Her skin was warm but her fingertips were chilly. "Bonnie, please talk to me."

Her head shifted just a bit in his direction as if she recognized his voice but wasn't sure if it was him. This spurred Damon on. "Please, love. Scold me! Condemn me to hell, do something."

"I…" Bonnie croaked.

Damon licked his lips. "Yes?"

She sighed and her shoulders slumped. Bonnie fell back against the bed and curled herself into a ball. "Leave," she whispered.

He wasn't sure if he had heard her correctly or not. So when he reached out to touch her shoulder and Bonnie jerked away from him, Damon got the message this time and left.

Bonnie's indifferent attitude continued for three days. She would get dressed in the lavish gowns that Lady Ulma had made, joined her and Damon downstairs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, walked through the gardens by herself, yet she refused to utter a single word.

Not knowing what was going through her mind was driving him to the brink of schizophrenia. Damon tempered himself when Bonnie came down to dinner dressed in a white one shouldered gown that swept the floor when she walked. Her face was pale without makeup, made even more startling by her deep red hair, yet for some strange reason he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Her lips were tinted with just a hint and he did mean hint of color, and some of the brilliant brown color had returned her eyes.

Godfrey pulled out Bonnie's chair at the table and she murmured, "Thank you."

Lady Ulma and her husband perked up that Bonnie finally said something. Their optimistic eyes found Damon's at the other end of the table who sat with his legs crossed watching Bonnie carefully.

She ate methodically. Placing food in her mouth, chewing exactly twenty-seven times before swallowing. She did this until her plate was empty and Godfrey quickly swept it away.

Lady Ulma and her husband engaged in conversation and tried to draw Bonnie into it but she'd merely stared at them blankly, maybe kind of smiled or something she did with her face, but that was it. She didn't speak.

Damon bit his lips to keep from snapping and exploding at her. She had been right when he scolded her back in that alley after their arrival in the dark dimension, that he should be nicer to her because it was his fault she was drunk and out of it. It was his fault again for her catatonic state.

What _happened _to her?

"Are you going to walk in the garden today, Bonnie?" Lady Ulma asked.

Bonnie nodded her head and then rose from the table to do just that.

"I don't know if she'll ever snap out of this, Mr. Salvatore," Lady Ulma lamented. "Do you think she was…"

Damon bashed his hand on the table jostling the tea cups, silverware, and plates. He abruptly rose from his seat and vanished from the room. He couldn't allow his thoughts to go to that dark place because if they did, everyone and he did mean everyone in the dark dimension would be dead by morning.

* * *

The house was silent. Bonnie was pressing her luck especially being in the room across from Damon's, but she knew he often left the house at dusk to hunt, and though she didn't want to think about him drinking from another pretty neck, she realized she owed him nothing.

Very tentatively she opened her bedroom door in small increments. Earlier she listened carefully as the servants entered and exited her bedroom to see if the hinges squeaked. They didn't they were well oiled but Damon had bionic hearing and he would pick up the most minute sound, and he'd be there to foil her plan.

Standing in her bare feet, Bonnie slipped out of her bedroom and left the door open. It would have been too much of a risk to try to close it after her.

The house was dark but with the sun hanging low in the sky and because the estate was outfitted with floor-to-ceiling windows enough light illuminated her path. The darkness no longer terrified her. In the back of her mind Bonnie knew she was safe behind these walls, but always, always something managed to hide itself in a tiny corner, jump out and yell Boo at her.

She entered the parlor, headed for a table decorated with cups, cutlery and a whole bunch of other stuff. Bonnie picked up a paring knife and headed over to the French double doors. She was far enough into the house that if Damon heard her open the door he might ignore it and brush it off as one of the servants moving around. If he was even here to begin with.

Her eyes stared up at that sun. The sun that never set. How people could stand it was beyond her and in a few minutes she'd never have to see it again.

Bonnie sighed and stared down at her wrists. She had been manhandled it felt almost her entire life, but here it had been kicked up a notch. She had been nearly sold into slavery and finally…her body had been violated with touches she did not want. But that wasn't even the worst part, the worst part was she had been left to fend for herself by the man—nope vampire—that she loved.

Bonnie couldn't pinpoint when she might have fallen in love with Damon Salvatore. It might have happened the first night they met and he kissed her. It might have been when he saved her life after she had been pumped full of resin. It might have been when she watched him dance the waltz with her best friend despite the fact Elena was already in love with someone else at the time.

Yet she knew this one thing for sure, Damon didn't love or respect her for that matter. And he put her in a position to be caught and have unspeakable horrors done to her.

She lowered her eyes to her wrist again and held the paring knife against her skin. Did she really want to do this? Ending her life because someone was mean to her seemed like a lame excuse to off herself, but if they didn't make it out of this place in the next few days, those who had a bounty on Damon's head would find them and she'd be dead or worse.

"What are you doing?" a voice from the shadows demanded.

Bonnie gasped and dropped the knife with an audible clang against the marble floor. She whirled around and saw Damon standing in the far corner of the room. His button down shirt was open revealing only a sample of his ripped chest, abdomen, and milk-white skin.

She immediately snapped her jaws shut as her chest rose and fell in quick succession.

Damon stepped out of the shadows. "I asked what you were doing because it looked like what I _think _you were about to do. Now correct me if I'm wrong, _please_."

The ice she heard in his voice made her shiver. She couldn't answer him because there was no explanation—not a very good one—about what she had been attempting to do.

He was on top of her staring at her balefully until his gaze softened. Damon picked up the paring knife and placed it back on the table.

Bonnie stepped back from him because he had been standing too close to her. Her tear ducts were becoming active and her tears her rolling in torrents down her cheeks.

Damon smelled the saline in the air and jerked his head towards her. He reached to cup her inflamed cheek but Bonnie dodged out of the way and attempted to side step him, but he was quicker and blocked the exit.

With her eyes she begged for him to move but he refused with a glare of his own. "You're going to talk to me, Bonnie. But not here."

He took her by the hand and flashed the both of them up to her bedroom where he shut the door. Bonnie walked to the center of her room and folded her arms over her chest.

"You're upset with me. I don't need telepathy to know that. You feel abandoned and I did abandon you, but you weren't supposed to come with me, Bonnie. You were supposed to remain in Fell's Church," he sighed. "I had to do the best I could with the limited amount of time and funds that I had."

Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"Hit me, slap me, or kick me. Do something to show you're angry at me because taking your life is the coward's way out and I know you better than that."

"Get out of my room, Damon."

He raised his hands in the air dramatically. "She speaks!"

Bonnie's face darkened into a snarl that made him proud. "Do not come in my room and make fun of me. I don't want to see your face again. You make me sick!"

Damon felt like he had been punched. He hadn't expected that. Maybe her cold silence was better than blatantly hostile honesty.

But if she would only speak to him when she was pissed perhaps he should ruffle her feathers some more. "Stop being a victim, Bonnie. Nothing was done to you," he didn't think. "And I avenged you well enough. So much that I might have to face judgment."

Bonnie plopped down on the edge of the bed. "I simply _love _how you make everything into something about you. Ever since I met you it's been nothing but one long procession of 'my revenge', 'my search for a princess of darkness', me, me, me. Well screeewwww you!"

Damon didn't think his eyes could get any bigger, but they did. "Excuse me?" he said coldly. "Have you gone mad and forgotten who you're addressing?"

Bonnie shot up from the bed, eyes blazing. Damon actually took a step back.

"I know exactly who I'm addressing," she mimicked his accent. "But I don't think you've stopped to think who you're talking to," she poked him in the chest, which only served to hurt her finger. "I've taken a lot of crap from you, Damon, but not anymore. My life might not have the same value to you that Elena's does, but its still life. And everything could have been taken from me, Damon. Everything."

Her sob escaped and it was successful in making Damon feel like a bastard.

Tiny fingers furiously wiped the tears that wouldn't stop spilling out of her eyes. "Yes, it's my fault for clinging on to you when you opened the door. But to leave me there in that place knowing my history of getting into trouble, you should have known something would happen. You never would have done that to Elena. You wouldn't dream of leaving her someplace you know she wouldn't approve of and go off with a semi-promise to return. But you left me, abandoned me and I got caught…and they…urgh just GET OUT!"

With every sentence spoken it was becoming harder for Damon to maintain eye contact. Bonnie was right. He never would have treated Elena that way. She would have demanded to go with him, and he would have given in. What made the situation even more twisted was he had thought of Elena while he was wooing Jessalyn although the vampire princess reminded him of Bonnie. If Damon didn't know it then, he knew it now, he had issues.

That hard shell of his broke again. "Why were you going to take your life, Bonnie?"

She stuttered. "I wasn't going to do it. I…think. Look just leave. I'm tired."

Damon shook his head. "You're not tired. You went through a horrible ordeal, you need to talk about it."

Bonnie snorted sardonically. "Are you going to psychoanalyze me now? Are you going to have Lady Ulma hide all the sharp utensils?"

"If I have to, yes," he bit out. "What was done to you?"

Her nostrils flared. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Don't fight me, my little red bird."

Her hand flew towards his face without her permission and met its target. "Don't call me that."

Okay, Damon could count on one hand the number of times he had been slapped in his entire life. His lips pulled back from his teeth because the blow had been sufficient enough to turn his head.

Bonnie gasped, ignoring the sting and fire in her hand. It was a miracle she hadn't broken anything. "Damon…I'm…"

He stepped forward catching her by the arms. Bonnie yelped. Yep, she was about to die.

Damon wasn't really sure what he was going to do. His first action would be of course to sink his fangs into her delicate neck, but he couldn't do that to Bonnie. She had suffered humiliation because of him, became partly catatonic for days on end, and now she was essentially beating him up.

Her heart was beating rapidly and she was losing feeling in her legs and her head was beginning to feel several sizes too big. Damon's eyes were smoldering to the point Bonnie fully expected to see smoke coming out of them.

Unconsciously her eyes dropped to his lips and she wet her own. It wouldn't be that bad of a thing if he gave her a farewell kiss before killing her, right?

Damon read the intention on Bonnie's face. He loosened his grip on her arms and Bonnie took advantage of it. She gripped him as tightly by the back of his neck as she could, pulled him forward and locked lips with this immortal. Her fingers tunneled into his jet black hair, hair as soft as fur and she kissed Damon with every fiber of her being.

They had shared kisses in the past but they were tame compared to this and completely passion free. There was nothing innocent about this kiss, certainly not the way Bonnie thrust her tongue in his mouth, and certainly not the way Damon massaged hers with his.

Damon backed up her up towards the bed until she collapsed on it. Bonnie scooted backwards until she reached the massive headboard, never breaking their kiss. Her lungs were screaming for air but she refused to cave in. If she stopped kissing him, he might realize what he was doing, get up, and leave.

Damon tore his shirt off and then searched for the zipper of Bonnie's dress. They really needed to put the brakes on what they were doing and think about what they were doing. But whatever part of him that was still noble said he was doing this because he didn't want Bonnie to feel afraid or that her life didn't matter to hm.

In hindsight he should have just said that, but he knew actions spoke louder than words.

Bonnie finally broke the kiss to take in a much needed breath of air. Her nose brushed against Damon's and she stared up into his eyes. Her heart was beating a mile a minute and that's where she became consciously aware of his state of undress.

She traced his lower lip with her finger.

Damon needed her to reprimand him and tell him to go back to his own room. Now! Because if she didn't in the next five seconds he'd go back to kissing her and he might not stop there.

Bonnie nipped his lips starting the frenzy all over again. There was no turning back now.

* * *

The morning rays woke Damon from sleep. He turned his head away from the intrusive light where they crashed into a naked back of creamy skin. Memories of last night flooded him, causing his breath to get stuck in his throat.

Damon shot into a sitting position and stared at Bonnie, hair disheveled against the ivory satin pillows, the sheet barely covering her, a look of pure contentment marring her young face.

Ye gods, he thought and buried his hands in his hair. He royally messed up. Damon's intention was to take the memory away of her brief time being enslaved, and replace it with new ones, better ones but he took things too far, and Bonnie granted him too many liberties. Damon loathed men who took advantage of damaged maidens for their own gain. Well he took Bonnie's maidenhead and no amount of vampire blood was going to replace that.

Damon sat there contemplating killing himself otherwise Stefan, Elena, Meredith—especially Meredith, and Mutt would do the deed for him if they ever found out.

Bonnie remained motionless on the bed even as he climbed out of it in search of his clothes. Damon slipped on his pants and he was buttoning up his shirt when Bonnie stirred. He instantly stopped moving.

The spot behind her felt empty and Bonnie sensed that someone was moving around her room. She opened her eyes, leaned up in bed, adjusting the sheet to cover her chest when she saw Damon fully dressed.

What had turned out to be one of the greatest nights of her life was slowly dissolving into another nightmare. He was going to do the walk of shame back to his room because he couldn't stand the thought of waking up beside her.

Her chin quivered but Bonnie sucked it up and pulled on what was left of her dignity. She wouldn't make Damon stay if he didn't want to.

He knew he was giving Bonnie the wrong impression, that he regretted what happened between them. That couldn't have been farther from the truth, however, he didn't think he was brave enough to face her newly changed feelings towards him. There he goes again, turning something that happened to someone else into something about him.

"Good morning," he said cheerily enough. "I have an errand to run and I was hoping I'd be back before you awakened."

Bonnie knew a lie when she heard one. "Oh," she said and that was all she was going to say.

Feeling awkward which was unusual for him, Damon approached the bed, tilted Bonnie's head up by the chin and kissed her soundly on the lips.

She sighed a little in pleasure, placated for the moment.

"I'll be back so we can have lunch together."

"Okay," she replied.

Damon walked backwards out of the room, keeping his eyes on her until he slipped out into the hall. He entered his bedroom and closed the door, and thud his head against it.

"You are such a fool, Damon."

Alone, Bonnie laid back against the pillows feeling the burning sensation of having made love for the first time between her legs as she cried herself back to sleep.

Chapter end.

**A/N: I wanted to be a little more descriptive with the love scene but I'm trying to keep this at a certain rating. If you liked this, let me know. But thank you again for taking a chance on this. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Let me thank EVERYONE who stopped by, took a peek, left me your thoughts, added to your favorites/alert list, many, many, many THANKS! I had to make some alterations to this chapter. Here is the latest. Enjoy!**

These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith. No copyright infringement intended.

Bonnie wouldn't be sad about this. Going through four years of high school, listening to other girls describe their first time with the same hesitancy, despair, yet also euphoria that they officially left their innocent childhood behind, kept her on the outside looking in. Now she was apart of a much different crowd where she could do one of two things: sulk because Damon decided to act like a total prick, or merely hold her head high and have no regrets. She might do a little of both.

Her fingers grazed the abundant rose petals in the garden, the magnificent red looking purple under the relentless sun. Bonnie longed to see home again and felt her throat tightening when her thoughts turned to seeing Elena and Damon interacting for the first time. No matter what happened between her and Damon, Bonnie knew it would be eclipsed by what Damon felt for her best friend. He ignored the social rules of protocol that you don't fall in love with your brother's girl.

Elena was not completely blameless in all of this either. She had broken several cardinal rules and if Bonnie wanted to be honest about the whole thing, she would say she didn't like girls like Elena. Girls who pitted two guys against each other, but what made things even more scandalous was the fact the two guys she was involved with were brothers.

Bonnie shuddered as her thoughts rudely reminded her of what she saw and what she heard when she brought a bottle of black magic wine to Damon, and saw him embracing Elena like they were posing for the cover of a romance novel. That hadn't been all. No, she _heard _Elena call Damon, "Darling," a pet name that had been—at the time—reserved for Stefan. Stefan! The vampire Elena fell in love with on sight.

Did Elena not know or understand the ramifications if that information got back to the others? Yet it did anyways because they were all so deeply interconnected and intertwined. Stefan and Damon could read thoughts, and even if she tried to privately dissect what she was a witness to, Bonnie knew her mind was no safe playground. And she was a huge broadcaster, Stefan would know all he needed to know just by peeking behind the curtain of Bonnie's mind.

Her fears manifested in that place, tripled and quadrupled in number until she felt nothing but stuck in something of her own making. A pain sliced her heart when she produced scenarios of how Elena would greet Damon, when they were alone, away from prying, judgmental eyes. She imagined he'd call her "princess" and run his fingers through her golden hair, and Elena would attempt to be stern with him though she'd hold and call him "darling". Yuck.

And the pain within Bonnie only increased because she figured Damon would pretend he didn't sleep with her all so he wouldn't lose Elena.

A thorn pricked her skin and drew blood. That would have had her crying out and jumping around on one foot, but actually it had the opposite effect. It relaxed her. It took away from the tension that coiled her muscles into knots. It made Bonnie forget about the persistent throb she felt resonating in the center of her body that flowed out like ripples in the ocean to the rest of her limbs. It was a constant reminder that someone had invaded her body.

She pierced her eyes closed as flashbacks from the night before assaulted her. Damon had never held her tighter than he did last night. His lips couldn't stop kissing or worshipping her skin. Bonnie had no idea what she was supposed to do but things kind of came naturally. She allowed Damon to direct the show since it was so obvious he knew what he was doing, and he was very good at his job. A giggle bubbled without her permission which she quickly dismantled. She knew he was somewhere on the property trying to keep an eye on her.

Having lunch with him and Lady Ulma had been even more awkward than when she was slightly catatonic. Bonnie hated the fact she was so aware of him. Whenever he touched something she grew envious of it, wanting his hands and fingers to touch her instead. She could really dislike her situation because it made her feel weak and susceptible to his infinite charm. She also didn't like the way the maids always blushed whenever they had to ask him something. Damon, naturally, didn't really pay them all that much attention, still it was attention. Let's face it, he was a chick magnet, had been even when he was human, his vampire-ness only magnified what he had hidden within and brought it out on display.

When he smiled at her after entering the dining room like the aristocrat he believed himself to be, Bonnie's heart melted. It really did. Like chocolate left out in the sun. She felt her face stretching to make a smile of her own, a flirty smile, but then she remembered that he tried to sneak out of her room, and lied about having an errand to run. Like seriously, she might be naïve but she wasn't stupid. Damon knew he couldn't risk going into the city, not after what he did back at the slave warehouse, so why lie about having some business to take care of?

Her dreams had let her down because Bonnie knew with absolute certainty that Damon would be there with his arms wrapped around her, offering up praise for handling her first time so maturely. Then, he would have the servants draw a bath and then order them not to bother them until Lady Ulma said it was time to eat. Bonnie would have sat on his lap, preferably without blushing, and they just would have enjoyed their time together and make plans about announcing their relationship to their—her—friends.

What happened instead when she woke up, she found Damon fully dressed and looking caught and guilty. She let him go without argument or explanation, and then she prepared for her day—alone.

She got her cry out once he left her room, and then afterwards made a vow with herself. She would no longer shed another tear for Damon, unless of course he came to her groveling for forgiveness and a proposal, but until one of those things happened, Bonnie would not give into the pain that was percolating in her system. It was time she embrace the full spectrum of womanhood and go about her business.

* * *

This was much worse. Damon thought Bonnie's endless silence was bad yet it was nothing compared to her cool indifference. At least towards him. She was perfectly cordial with the servants and of course their host and hostess, but whenever he addressed her, he was met with monosyllabic responses. And when she chanced looking at him, Bonnie had a way of looking _through _him as if he were nothing more substantial than mist.

Typically he wouldn't have stood for that kind of behavior, or he just would have ignored it, but Damon wasn't that much of a bastard not to realize that his actions this morning hurt her. It seemed that's all he was good at doing when it came to Bonnie. Either he verbally abused her, made fun of her, or he hurt her feelings.

He stood next to one of the columns, leaning against it, arms folded over his chest staring out into the garden when he felt someone standing next to him.

Lady Ulma offered him a warm smile that Damon did his best to return but was sure it didn't reach his eyes.

"My sentries were able to track down Sage. He'll be here in the morning to escort you and Bonnie to a gate that will get you back to your home."

Damon curtly nodded his head. He and Bonnie had spent more than enough time in the dark dimension and it was time they returned to normalcy although he couldn't call life in Fell's Church normal. He had no idea if the town had imploded already or not, and part of him wasn't exactly looking forward to returning, but maybe with him being back on familiar ground he'd be able to screw his head on straight.

His eyes instantly found Bonnie as she made her way back to the estate. She had a wreath of flowers in her hand as she held up her dress so it wouldn't trip her. Something quickened in his chest, guts, and loins as he stared at the way the wind blew her red hair across her face obstructing it for a moment. Bonnie was beautiful, Damon had always been aware of that, but her beauty was the kind that surprised you at odd times.

"Mr. Salvatore," Lady Ulma called for his attention.

He had forgotten the woman was still standing next to him. "Yes?"

"I'm having my annual viewing tonight. I'd like to extend an invitation to you and Bonnie as my esteemed guests. Do you think she'll be up to it?"

If there was one thing he knew for sure about Bonnie was that she loved parties, and any opportunity to flirt with men she'd jump on it. Yet for some strange reason witnessing a bunch of hooligans chase after Bonnie made Damon slightly pull his lips back from his teeth.

"I'm sure she'll love it."

Lady Ulma could see Damon was preoccupied with other thoughts and left him to it. As she walked through her estate, one of her seamstresses found her. "Esmeralda, do we have any more of that deep red velvet and chiffon fabric left?"

"I do believe so."

"Good, I need several yards of it. I've just been inspired by something." Lady Ulma had invariably been a prudent woman so it never escaped her the feelings Bonnie and Damon were fighting in regards to one another. She liked Bonnie and understood that Damon had deep feelings for Elena. Elena would always hold a special spot in Lady Ulma's heart, yet she also knew that a woman should never love two men at the same time. Someone was destined to be hurt, and from the brief time Lady Ulma had in getting to know Stefan, she was assured that Stefan's love for Elena was the kind of love Elena needed.

It was not her place to say this, but Lady Ulma knew that young Bonnie was in love with Damon. Did she think they made a better match, of that she couldn't speak with absolute certainty. But as much as Damon prided himself on being a formidable vampire-and he was that-there was also a gentle, caring side to him that only few people had been a benefactor of.

Bonnie being on that very short list.

Tonight would probably end up being their last night having one another at their full disposal, and Lady Ulma would do her part to make sure it wasn't wasted.

* * *

Later that night, Damon tugged the wrist of his black button down shirt under his suit jacket sleeve as he eyed his appearance in the mirror. Lady Ulma got his measurements just right that his tuxedo fit his body like a glove. Down below the party was already in full swing. Damon believed in making an entrance and he abhorred being the first to arrive to any social function because in his mind it showed an unattractive eagerness to be apart of a crowd that may or may not accept you.

He already knew that Bonnie was downstairs. He had listened intently as the maids, seamstress, and Lady Ulma praised her for looking stunning in whatever new creation their benefactor invented for her this time. All Damon really knew about Bonnie's attire was that it was red. He'd get more details once he saw her for himself, and just thinking about it made some strange flutter take place in his belly. He frowned and then ignored it as he swiped his tongue over his extended canine.

Two maids had been generous in allowing him to take a sip of blood from their veins. They were young girls, had never been kissed in their entire life, and if his situation were different he probably would have, but now…kissing someone else or merely the idea of kissing another woman made him frown with distaste.

Damon rolled his eyes and stuffed a hand in his pocket. It was time to go and break some hearts. That made him wince again as he slipped out of his room.

As he walked through the large galleries leading to the formal ballroom, Damon tried not to think of the fact that he and Bonnie probably hadn't spoken more then twenty sentences to each other since last night. He had fully expected her to rage at him, guilt trip him, but she did none of the above and actually showcased a maturity and gracefulness in her constant rebuff of his advances. He quite literally had no idea what to do or knew what to say and this irritated him to no end. Damon had never been without a keenly word spoken or a trick up his sleeve to bend something in his favor. He was totally lost on how to proceed with Bonnie. He likened her to being a black widow spider. If he got too close to admire her beauty she'd pump him full of poison, if he stayed away, that would only give her more power over him.

And she did have power over him.

Their secret alone could ruin all of his plans and place him on several hit lists, but at the end of the day it was still a risk he was willing to take.

The ballroom was packed with hundreds of people. Damon hadn't imagined that a gala hosted by Lady Ulma would be of his magnitude which would make tonight all the more bearable. If it had been a measly crowd, then naturally that would have forced him and Bonnie to try to communicate, talk to each other because options would have been severely limited.

Now he wouldn't have to worry so much about charming her or placating her fears that he was, in essence, done with her.

He wasn't, but Damon wasn't exactly sure what he wanted from her at the same time.

He growled lowly in his throat which still earned him some curious glances. So far as he crowd surfed he saw some of the same faces of nobles and noblewomen from the gatherings he and the others crashed as they searched for the fox keys. Damon sighed deeply and moved through the crowd. He didn't bump into a single soul, smiled at a group of ladies who couldn't keep their eyes off him or his black-on-black attire, confiscated a flute of black magic wine, and stood near the edge of the dance floor.

Several men and women were entertaining the crowd with their footwork and grace, however, one such dancer immediately caught and held Damon's attention.

Her back was to him as it was being showcased in a beautiful deep red gown, the kind of red that reminded him of spilled blood. The lady's hair cascaded down her back in red waves, brushing against her creamy, unblemished skin. Damon looked around the room trying in earnest to find Bonnie, but soon grew distracted when the dancers shifted now facing him and the mysterious woman in red was revealed to his shocked eyes.

Damon's jaw plopped open as his eyes took a tour of Bonnie. The dress Lady Ulma had designed for her reminded him of that infamous red dress that Jessica Rabbit wore. It had a plunging sweetheart neckline, and clung to Bonnie's curves like a possessive lover. It left the graceful slope of her neck and shoulders bare for all the world to marvel at as well as her waif-like arms. The recessed lighting of the room caught flecks of shimmering gold thread that added a nice touch of sparkle to her deep red dress that swept the floor in a four foot train. The only jewelry Bonnie wore was gold chandelier earrings and a ruby and diamond encrusted ring.

His eyes traveled over her face. Her makeup was tasteful only bringing color to her lips, and cheeks, as thick black eyelashes made her brown eyes stand out like garnet jewels. Her red hair had been styled in a classic wave made popular by actresses in the 1940's. Gone were those doll-like curls in her attempt to make herself appear taller than her five foot three frame.

Damon reluctantly brought his eyes to the man she was dancing with. It was easy to see he was a vampire, possibly older than Damon and much higher on the vampire food chain. Standing next to Bonnie the man was a giant but he was distinguished, handsomely wealthy no doubt, but there was ruthlessness to his dark green eyes. He kept leering at Bonnie and she just kept smiling at the man.

The glass of wine in Damon's hand cracked and he found a passing waiter to take it away, but he prevented the young server from leaving.

"Excuse me," Damon said. "Can you tell me the name of the gentleman that's dancing with the redhead in the red dress?"

"Oh, that's Monsieur Nasir de la Fuehrer. He is quite possibly the richest man here tonight in attendance."

Oh wonderful, Damon thought and motioned with his head for the server to go away.

Damon looked behind him and spotted another circle of ladies who were whispering behind their hands, gossiping about him. He threw them his cinematic smile and approached. They immediately began to coquette, flamboyantly tossing their hair over their shoulders, ruffling their detailed gowns, behaving like peacocks.

"Ladies," Damon bowed before them and quickly assessed which one would be his dance partner for the evening. Automatically he reached for the blond with the blue eyes, but checked, because she reminded him too much of Elena, and instead went for her brunette counterpart with the electric green eyes. She squealed happily which told Damon the girl was used to being looked over in favor of her blond friend.

Damon sighed deeply.

He and his partner, he didn't bother to ask her name, quickly joined the other dancers, easily falling into step. Damon kept his eyes on her yet his ears were listening to every spoken work between the man and Bonnie.

"You should really see _my_ gardens, Bonnie."

Damon winced because the man pronounced her name as Bon-nay like she was the artist Monet.

"They are twice the size of Lady Ulma's although her roses do outshine mine. They aren't nearly as brilliant."

"Well, I happen to like the size of Lady Ulma's garden. I don't like big things because I'm already tiny enough."

The man laughed boisterously. Even Damon had to snicker at that.

"I meant no disrespect, milady."

"I'm sure you didn't but Lady Ulma is a dear friend. She's been there for me when…when I needed someone to help take care of me. She's like another mother to me."

Nasir bowed his head in supplication and continued dancing with Bonnie. She was far different from the pedigree of women he was used to entertaining. She was human, that much was obvious, and extremely vulnerable but she held up a strong veneer, and the scent of her blood was hypnotic. Already his gums began to pound maddeningly so.

"I still find it surprising that you have no gentleman with you," he folded his frame to whisper in her ear. "It's almost an insult that no one has made _you _an offer of endless devotion. But I'm the type to profit from others follies."

A tiny smile creased Bonnie's mouth. "I thought there might be someone, but he's of the finicky sort. I have no room in my life for such indecisiveness."

Damon's hand inadvertently tightened on his partner's and she hissed in pain.

"Sorry, love," he said sheepishly.

"Then I offer you my total adoration, milady," Nasir grinned. "How long are you planning on remaining a visitor in my realm?"

"Not long, I'm afraid."

"Pity, because I would like to get to know more about you."

Damon kept his smile in place towards his partner although on the inside he was a volcano on the verge of erupting.

Bonnie stared up into those green eyes and inwardly shivered. Men like Nasir who bend and broke rules and possibly limbs to get their way always made her uneasy. Yet she had a part to play tonight.

When the musicians stopped playing, the dancers bowed before one another as the other occupants in the room began clapping. Nasir took Bonnie's hand once again and brought it up to kiss. He maintained eye contact with her the entire time and she was sure her cheeks began to color over. She was ready to look at some of Lady Ulma's dress and jewelry designs that were displayed in glass cases throughout the lower level of the house; however, Nasir wasn't so ready to let her go.

Another song began to play.

"Indulge me," he said with a charming grin on his face. "The night is still young and I feel I've barely gotten to know you."

Bonnie offered another smile, clasped hands once again, and was spun around the room.

Damon was probably two dancers away from Bonnie, so that when Nasir turned he caught the barest whiff of her perfumed skin. This dance required lifting on the mens part, so up his partner went into the air, throwing her neck back beautifully like a trained dolphin. Damon had to snicker at his own analogy as he lowered the woman back to the ground.

When Nasir lifted Bonnie, she gasped in surprise and delight and giggled. That sound was heaven to Damon's ears but he couldn't enjoy it the way he should because he wasn't the one who made her elicit the sound.

"Are you really not going to tell me your name?"

Startled his partner spoke to him, Damon stared down at the girl. "Excuse me?"

"We've danced for two songs and we haven't exchanged names. My name is Alessandra. You would be?" she prompted.

"For what's in a name by which a rose called by any other would smell just as sweet," Damon paraphrased horribly but whatever.

Alessandra stared at him blankly. Of course she wouldn't know Shakespeare—not here.

"Never mind," he said broodingly.

"You keep staring at the lady in the red dress. Is she a friend of yours? Paramour? A meal?"

That dark gleam returned to Damon's eyes which effectively silenced Alessandra. "Who she is, I promise is no business of yours. Now stop talking and dance prettily like you've been doing."

Around and around they rotated around the room. And each time Bonnie was in grabbing distance, Damon tried to capture her attention by dancing as flamboyantly as he could. When he realized what a fool he was making himself out to be he toned things down.

When the long, drawn out song finally concluded, he bowed gallantly before his partner and disappeared before she even had the chance to blink.

Bonnie had managed to get away from the overbearing Nasir. Now armed with a glass of black magic wine, which she probably shouldn't drink, but sipped, she walked through the gallery staring at Lady Ulma's creations. Other attendees would stop and ask Bonnie her opinion, and she would proudly tell them she was wearing a Lady Ulma original. She would preen for them and gush as she was pummeled with compliments, yet her attention was invariably split.

She would have had to be blind not to see the way Damon danced with that woman. But she was quite proud of herself for ignoring him although it was harder than learning to spell in Russian. He was an attention seeker, could draw it even when he held up a wall. When he moved it was next to impossible to keep your eyes from cantering over to Damon.

Damon moved through the crowd always keeping Bonnie in sight. Right now she and another lady of privilege marveled at a royal blue cloak, whispering back and forth with one another in conspiracy. It took a moment for him to realize what he had been doing.

He had been hunting Bonnie.

His body would stiffen any time he caught another man twisting his neck to gaze or stare at Bonnie. And several times Damon had to stop himself from luring those men away when they reached out to touch Bonnie to garner her attention. It brought back memories of seeing those bastards touching her as she stood in next to nothing on full display at the slave warehouse.

The night wore on, the hour was outrageously late, and the black magic wine as well as the little finger foods Bonnie sampled was making it difficult to stay awake. She found Lady Ulma in the crowd to say goodnight and refused an escort to her room. She was still aware enough of her surroundings to let out a piercing scream if anyone tried anything.

Damon saw this as his opportunity to strike.

He hid himself well in the shadows, blending and becoming invisible because he wasn't exactly sure where Bonnie might be headed. For one wild second he thought she might be rendezvousing with Nasir, but he spotted the charlatan speaking with what Damon could only assume were businessmen.

Bonnie entered her room, closing the door gently behind her. The night had been a nice one. Her life hadn't been on the brink of being placed in danger, and she had an overall lovely time. It would have been made even better if Damon had asked for a dance. That would have given her the chance to either accept or turn him down. Would it make her a bad person if she said the thought of rejecting him thrilled her?

Reaching behind her back, Bonnie lowered the zipper to her gown and sighed as the soft fabric grazed her skin as it pooled around her feet. She stepped out of the garment standing in nothing but her corset and matching panties. On her feet were five inch jewel encrusted Mary-Jane pumps.

A hand covered her mouth so she wouldn't scream as a strong arm wrapped around her waist pulling her flush against an equally hard body. Bonnie was fully prepared to give the intruder hell before passing out, but then she felt his lips brush the shell of her ear and that cool, accentuated voice sung like a melody.

"You've denied me a dance tonight, Bonnie. How should I punish you for such insolence?"

Bonnie smirked against his hand and settled down. Damon dropped his hand, waiting to hear what she had to say.

"Nasir?'

Damon growled and spun Bonnie around. If it hadn't been for his quick reflexes she would have toppled over.

His glare was ferocious that it became a little difficult for Bonnie to swallow. "You were expecting him?" he nearly shook her.

A rosy tint worked its way from the center of her chest, up her neck, before settling in both cheeks. "Damon, please let me go."

He denied her request. "Did you have plans to kiss him tonight?"

Inwardly Bonnie laughed. Was he being serious? Of course he was. Did it mean she was a little flattered by his obvious jealousy—naturally. Did that mean she had to be careful—absolutely.

"I don't see how it is any business of yours. And what kind of girl do you take me for? That I give myself to someone and the next night kiss a total stranger? Get out!" Bonnie attempted to shove him already knowing Damon wouldn't budge.

Damon dropped his hands from her person yet he didn't put any space between them. "There you go trying to get rid of me."

Bonnie rolled her dark brown eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "That's because you're always being an idiot."

His nostrils flared at the insult. Damon felt torn. He couldn't decide if he wanted to throttle her or kiss her.

His eyes, however, had their own agenda and began to give Bonnie a thorough once-over. He knew which buttons to push to make her blush and feel all of two years old.

She gulped audibly as his dark eyes deepened until Bonnie saw nothing but black as they focused on her breasts. She wanted to cover up her meager chest made a little more voluptuous by the corset. Damon may have discovered all of her secrets last night; it didn't mean she wanted him to review them.

Oh, what was she saying? Of course she did!

Suddenly the quiet was disrupted by a flash of lightening followed by the boom of thunder. Bonnie shrieked and without thinking, threw herself in Damon's arms. He caught her and held her tightly. With her warm body pressed intimately against his, and the scent of her delicious perfumed skin rising to his nostrils, it made his stomach growl and his dick harden.

Bonnie gasped again when she felt Damon's length pressing against her belly. A wave of pleasure and lust raked her body and all she could focus on was that delectable mouth of his.

Damon crushed her even closer as he sealed his mouth over hers. Bonnie eagerly wrapped her little arms around his broad shoulders wishing he wasn't wearing all his clothes, wishing they could get closer.

"Open your mouth, Bonnie," he dictated and moaned as she obeyed him.

Her tongue tasted like honey and Damon had to fight against his instinct to bite down and draw her blood into his mouth.

Damon picked her up bridal style and placed her on the bed. Bonnie accommodated him in their new position as he aligned himself against her curves.

She tunneled her fingers through his ink-black hair. Bonnie's eyes opened when Damon disengaged his mouth from hers.

Wait, wait, wait, this wasn't exactly what she wanted to happen. At least not like this. Bonnie pushed at his shoulder, fighting really against drawing him closer.

"D-Damon, wait."

He only paused in his ministrations.

"I want to change."

Damon finally lifted his head. "What for? I'll only end up disrobing you again."

She laughed yet kept pushing at his chest. Damon reluctantly rolled off of her. "I mean change into my night clothes because I want to go to sleep."

He was simply flabbergasted. "You mean you actually want to _sleep _just to be clear?"

Bonnie nodded her head and hopped out of bed. "Did you honestly think I would reward your appalling behavior of trying to sneak out on me this morning?"

Damon was speechless. Speechless and pissed off. "I told you I had an errand to run."

Bonnie gave an undignified snort as she headed over to the floor-to-ceiling armoire and opened it up. "And what errand might that be?" she jerked the clothes on the rack searching for something modest to throw on but all she saw were frilly night pieces that were appropriate for a married woman.

She stopped searching and turned back around. "Don't bother answering the question because you don't have a valid reason. If you were going to regret what we did why do it in the first place? To cure a curiosity?"

Damon rose from the bed. He did his best to keep his gaze locked on her face.

"You know I would never use you like that, my little red bird. Things spiraled out of control between us last night, I'll be the first to admit that, but it doesn't mean I regret what happened. Bonnie, I haven't been able to get you out of mind. If I cared nothing for you then what happened last night wouldn't have left an impression on me. Yes, my behavior this morning is inexcusable and I really have no excuse for it."

Bonnie dropped her eyes and shrieked. She turned around and started searching through the racks again.

With her distracted Damon approached. Bonnie stiffened when his cold hands slid up her arms, rounding her shoulders before they collected her hair in a ponytail to hold it off to the side. Damon pressed butterfly kisses against her bare shoulder and her neck.

"Can you find it in your heart to forgive me for my barbarian behavior?" he whispered.

And that whisper was a caress against her skin that was growing warmer and warmer by the second. Forgiving too easily had been Bonnie's Achilles Heel, but Damon sounded so sincere and she was one of few people who knew he never apologized because all of his actions were justifiable.

"I don't know," she half moaned. "People only do to you what you allow them to. If I give in so easily you'll think all you'll have to do is kiss me and ask for forgiveness. What's going to happen when we make it back home? Are you going to go back to trying to steal Elena from Stefan? Are you going to go back to treating me like I'm stupid?"

Damon pressed his forehead against the back of her head. Those were questions he could honestly say he didn't have a clever answered prepared.

"I can't treat you like a simpleton because you're not. And I can't worry about tomorrow when today has it own set of problems. Love, you are no longer a child in my eyes. You're all woman and you quite literally have me by the balls."

Bonnie allowed a tiny, giddy laugh to escape. "If that's so you won't have any problems going to sleep in your own bed tonight."

Damon resisted although barely from stomping his foot on the ground like a petulant child. He took a giant step away from Bonnie.

"Fine," the word dripped acid. "I'll go like a chastened child off to my room. Have your things ready because we leave at dawn."

And like the wind he was gone.

Hmm, that hadn't been what Bonnie expected him to say or do, but she was alone. And again she didn't want to be alone but she needed Damon to know he couldn't treat her like a common whore and expect everything to be honky-dory between them.

Bonnie ripped the next garment her hands landed on off the hanger and thrust her arms and legs into it. She climbed into bed and pouted up at the ceiling. The rains started to come down in heavy sheets, and the sound of it was able to lure her into sleep.

Damon for his part listened to her soft sighs and her labored breathing while he was stretched out against the black satin sheets of his bed. He nearly drained Alessandra dry when he stomped back downstairs to rejoin the party that was drawing to a close. But Alessandra hadn't seem to mind and wanted to stay the night. The dog in Damon would have taken her up on her offer, but he couldn't do that to Bonnie.

And that would have been distasteful on his part.

This woman-child had changed and altered his behavior in the span of months that living on earth for the last five-hundred years hadn't been able to accomplish. He should be really angry about that, but he couldn't muster up the strength to act accordingly.

Bonnie rolled over and her eyes snapped open. It was still raining outside but not as heavily as before. She left one of the windows open and the heady aroma from the garden permeated the room. She kicked the covers off her legs and then rolled to a sitting position on the bed. Bonnie ran a hand through her scarlet hair and climbed off the bed. She padded over to the open window and sighed in delight as a gentle breeze ruffled her gown against her nude body.

"Damon," escaped her lips before she could even stop herself.

The vampire heard his name and stopped thinking for a moment. Bonnie wasn't breathing as if she were in deep sleep. He was up and on his feet, across the hall, and entering her room before he even became aware of the fact he moved at all.

If he had breath in his body it would have got lodged in his throat. The sight Bonnie presented made his eyes stretch to the max.

Damon couldn't recall if he ever saw Bonnie donned in black. She liked colors, mostly earth tones, but he couldn't outright say he ever saw her in black. But the color looked excellent on her. She had selected a night gown with inch wide straps, a satin empire bodice while the rest of the flowing material was sheer black lace that tapered off at her ankles.

The contrast of the two colors against her pale skin made her seem paler than usual.

Bonnie sensed that someone was standing in her room. When she peeled open one eye and saw it was Damon, she stood upright.

"Do you want me, Bonnie?"

It was a simple question that only required a simple answer.

Unfortunately her voice decided at that precise moment not to cooperate and work. She settled with nodding her head.

Damon cleared the space separating them and drew Bonnie back into his arms. When he kissed her, he did so languorously.

Bonnie managed to work a hand between them and wrapped it around his neck. She applied as much pressure as she could.

Damon stopped kissing her, a dark eyebrow quirked in the air.

"Don't sneak out on me again, Salvatore, or you _will _regret it. Got it, Salvatore?"

He laughed heartily and nodded his head. "Yes, maiden, I got it. Now can I go back to kissing you?"

"Yes, and make it good."

"I'll try my best," he nibbled her neck.

Bonnie angled her head to accommodate him. She sighed and giggled.

* * *

Morning came and this time Bonnie found herself locked tightly in Damon's arms, her head using his chest as a pillow. In a few hours they would be going back to Fell's Church. Bonnie wasn't sure what to expect. She didn't know if what she and Damon were doing would continue or things would end here. She didn't want that.

In her situation ignorance wasn't bliss. Bonnie couldn't see herself going back to not knowing what being kissed by Damon felt like. Including other things. How could anyone ask a mermaid who grew legs to walk to forget what that freedom felt like to return to having a fin? It just didn't seem right or fair. Yet something was telling her Damon was going to ask her to keep what happened between them a secret.

She didn't mind the secrecy because Bonnie was apt to know not everyone would approve of their union. But she would only promise to keep her mouth shut if Damon promised that nothing between them would change.

But she would enjoy these last few moments between them before they were sucked back into the maelstrom of Fell's Church. Her tiny hand began to trace every single abdominal. Bonnie had seen _all _of Damon and she was still undecided as to which part of him she loved the most. Everything! She thought giddily.

Damon twitched and then his eyes opened as a soft touch fluttered against his manhood. He shifted until he could stare down at Bonnie, a naughty grin taking over his face.

"Kitten, what are you trying to do?"

Bonnie bit her lip. "Nothing."

"I disagree. I think you were trying to take liberties while I slept no less."

Fast as lightening Damon caught Bonnie and pinned her. She squeaked and giggled before their lips found one another like magnets. So lost were they that they didn't know they were performing in front of a startled audience.

"Mr. Salvatore."

Damon froze and quickly threw the covers over himself and Bonnie who tried to cower in his chest. He looked over his shoulder and there standing all bronze and blond was none other than…

"Sage," Damon growled the name.

"So sorry to catch you unawares, but I wanted to let you know I was here and at your service."

"And you couldn't have knocked?"

"I did but apparently your attention was elsewhere. Hello, Miss Bonnie lovely to see you again."

"Go away, Sage," came the muffled reply. Bonnie was slowly dying of embarrassment.

Sage bowed and then backed his way out of the room. Bonnie didn't lift her head from Damon's chest until she heard the soft click of the door closing.

"Do you think we saw me?" her eyes were huge and round with mortification.

"No, but he got a lovely view of my backside," he chuckled and kissed her again. "We should get a move on."

Damon motioned to get out of bed but Bonnie caught him by the arm, pulling him back down again. "Not until after you kiss me properly."

He rolled his eyes. "I think I've gone and created a monster."

"Be happy with your creation, Damon. Be very happy."

Chapter end.

**A/N:Not saying everything is resolved between Bonnie and Damon. The real test of their connection will come once they make it back to Fell's Church. The next chapter will be the final chapter in this small little story. I hope you guys liked it. Stay tuned for the next update. Thanks for reading!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hello. I know it's been an extreme minute since the last time I updated. I began reading another Bamon story and it kind of inspired me so here is the result of that inspiration. I may write an epilogue or I may not. Just depends on you guys. Enjoy!**

Disclaimer: These characters are the property of LJ Smith. No copyright infringement is intended.

"_Damon!"_

That voice reverberated and tripled in decibel and sounded like a pack of hounds on the loose chasing after a frightened stag. Or more accurately like a bolt of lightning cracking from the heavens. Bonnie's hands stilled in packing as her rosebud mouth puckered into the shape of an O, as her eyes became glued to the door.

Oh, no her worst fear was becoming a reality. What the hell was Elena doing here? Why couldn't she stay in Fell's Church for another few hours? Why was she _always _popping up interrupting her moments, her time with Damon? It was like she had a specially built radar to sense when Damon was no longer thinking about her. Annoyed, Bonnie was uncertain of what to do. Part of her burst with excitement that she'd get to see her friend, but the other more dominant side of Bonnie wished she had the power to sling-shot Elena to some far part of the world.

Bonnie tip-toed her way to the door, and when she reached it, first pressed her ear up against it and wondered if she could pinpoint where Elena might be storming from. It was impossible to gather that information tucked away and hiding in the safe confines of her bedroom, but there was no way in the world she was going to leave.

"_Damon! Front and center right now!"_

Not many people had the balls to summon Damon, to demand his presence like _that_. Bonnie was well aware of the fact that he allowed Elena certain allowances to speak to and treat him a particular way that had it been anyone else, they would have found themselves dead in a heart beat. A jealous spike flayed through Bonnie and she pushed it aside because it was irrational to be jealous of Elena in this moment. Bonnie had something in her arsenal her angelic-like friend didn't have. Damon had shared his body with her. And there was nothing no one could do to take that away.

To her horror, her bedroom door was opening. Crap she was out of time.

"You bellowed, angel?" Damon's smooth as melted chocolate voice answered her harsh call.

Elena spun around to face the man responsible for cleaving her heart in two. Looked at the vampire who drunk her blood uninhibited for days on end, solidifying a bond between them that she wasn't strong enough as a human to resist. Her heart sputtered in her chest as they landed on his preternaturally handsome face, those dark eyes, that ironical twist of those perfect lips that liquefied her like butter in a hot frying pan.

Elena cancelled those thoughts and balled her hands into fists making a deal with herself that she wouldn't strike him. Although he deserved striking.

Damon stood across from the enraged Elena Gilbert remembering all the things about her that had captivated his attention, held him prisoner and tethered to his past. Her milk blonde hair floated around her shoulders as if charged with electricity. Her lapis lazuli eyes though full of anger and judgment were hypnotic pools that were capable of making him think of ways to lay the world at her feet. Those porcelain cheeks were beginning to color pink making her an even lovelier specimen than she was right now.

Very quickly his eyes glossed over her attire. Her jeans were ripped and caked with dirt, and her shirt was torn in places that he could see her undergarments. A few days ago his heart would have begun palpitating at the sight she presented, but now he only had enough grace left in him to remove his ever-present leather jacket to cover her up, to offer her some semblance of modesty.

"Don't angel me, Damon. Where is she? Where is Bonnie?"

"Bonnie is fine. Might I inquire what has your panties in a bind?"

Elena's indignant expression became even more irate. "Do you even need to question why I would be upset? Meredith told us that you took Bonnie with you. Why would you do that?"

Propping a hand on his narrow hip, Damon resisted rolling his eyes. "Is that what she told you? That I kidnapped Bonnie? Well let me go ahead and nip that ridiculous notion in the bud." For effect, Damon cleared his throat. "So I drugged Bonnie to cough up the location of the star ball. It worked, but not for as long as I hoped it would. Just as I made it out to the woods, Bonnie came barreling out of nowhere and practically took my leg off. I tried to get her off me, but she wouldn't budge and the door was closing so I had no choice but to take her along with me."

"So what happened once you arrived? I don't see you taking her with you while you sleazed around with some…slut vampire to change you back."

Damon audibly clamped his jaws on top of one another. If you knew him, then you knew he preferred quality over quantity. He was not a womanizer by any stretch of the word or imagination. He would never lower himself to be turned by some strumpet on the street. Damon had far too much respect for himself. And to suggest otherwise were pretty much fighting words.

"I'd be _very_ careful in making assumptions, Elena," he intoned fiercely.

Something dangerous flashed in his eyes and Elena got the message to back off. However, that didn't mean she still wasn't going to voice her opinion on his behavior or the situation.

Haughtily, Elena replied, "Be that as it may, I want to know what you did with my friend while you were off cavorting around doing God knows what with God knows who."

It was cute-her jealously, but it was irritating at the same time. Elena must have thought she owned him. That couldn't be farther from the truth.

Damon gritted his teeth. He had spent the better part of the last four days trying _not_ to remember the condition he found Bonnie in and what could have befallen her due to his self-centeredness. If he explained as much to Elena, she would attempt to whip him like a dog.

They had come to the part of the story where it would take him double effort to keep the shame off his face.

Damon saw his brother approaching and that would probably be the one time he'd admit to being happy to see him. Although he let nothing but annoyance flash on his face.

"I see you got your canines back," Stefan remarked.

Damon ran his tongue over the tip of his left fang. "I did."

Stefan turned to Elena slightly. "I talked to Bonnie."

Upon hearing that, Damon's stomach bottomed out. Oh, fudge he thought. If Bonnie, who was something of a blabber mouth, told his brother of what happened to her, that she had been sold into slavery _again_, Elena would make good on her promise to squash him like a bug.

"I can explain," Damon blurted. "If Bonnie had listened to me and stayed put then she wouldn't have been picked off the street and taken to a slave warehouse, and nearly sold."

Two sets of eyes blinked at him uncomprehendingly at first before his words registered.

Everything unfolded in less than a tenth of second, yet it still appeared to have happened in slow motion to Damon. He watched as Stefan reached for Elena to restrain her. She narrowly escaped him. Damon arched backwards and felt the wind of Elena's hand miss his face by centimeters.

"Bonnie was sold into slavery!" Elena shrieked.

Flicking his coal-black eyes towards his brother, Damon said, "Calm. Her. Down."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not standing right in front of you. You gave your word that you would protect her, Damon and you didn't do that!"

Damon didn't remember making such a promise to Elena or to Bonnie. If he did, he might have been high on something. The old him would only protect a human he had chosen to feed on from other predators but the moment he was done, that human would have been discarded. The new Damon, slightly reformed Damon did care for _certain_ humans and would extend his armor of protection to them. But to remind him of the promises or word he broke just didn't sit well with him.

He stepped a little closer to Elena who tilted her chin staring up at him defiantly.

"You want to call into question my loyalty, that I'll let slide, but don't accuse me of not doing my job of protecting someone. I've done nothing but protect Bonnie from the start. Have I invariably done the right thing—not always, but be damn rest assured that _I _took care of the charlatans who abducted Bonnie."

Elena didn't look away even though she knew she should. His eyes were burning her. Setting her to flame. It was a twist of anger, lust, yearning, more anger, and even more lust. However, she was far from done giving Damon a piece of her mind.

Inwardly, Damon admired her valor but it was misplaced in this situation. Elena and his brother were overlooking the obvious fact that Bonnie was alive and breathing. Nothing had been done to her, physically—mentally was another matter altogether but it wasn't like she had been operating on all facilities anyways. She had been more eccentric and child-like compared to her friends. Bonnie was the only person Damon knew who was at her bravest when she was at her most terrified.

She was a paradox, an enigma that he had taken advantage of, insulted, and lately ravished. He could hear her approaching, could already smell her innocent presence.

A tiny hand clasped his arm as a flame of red hair blocked his peripheral vision.

Elena barely glanced at Bonnie because she was more concerned about making her point, of showcasing her superiority as being the only person in the world capable of taking care of Bonnie. For all her protestations in being Bonnie's best friend, Damon doubted Elena knew Bonnie that well.

"Elena," Bonnie spoke gently in that bell-like voice of hers. "Don't be upset with Damon. It's my fault that I got sucked along for the ride. He did the best he could do given our situation. I left the safety of the apartment Damon arranged for me to stay in, and because of that, I was caught."

Elena shook her head and closed her eyes. She pulled Bonnie in for a hug, holding her tightly like a mother being reunited with a child. Bonnie was a little stiff at first, but then returned the gesture. When the two girls separated, and Bonnie stepped back next to Damon, Elena focused her eyes on Bonnie. A light gasp escaped her lips.

There was something different about Bonnie. Gone was that perpetual look of fear on her cherub face. Elena couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly, but her eyes volleyed between Bonnie to Damon, Damon to Bonnie. It was hard not to miss the way they stood side-by-side. Like a couple. Like a pair. What was even more startling was the look of adoration on Damon's face geared towards Bonnie, like a man on the cusp of being besotted. Like a man who was staring at his own nirvana right here on earth.

Bonnie and Damon stood side by side like…a…mated…pair.

Elena felt her already elevated blood pressure spike another degree.

Bonnie's hold on Damon's arm wasn't possessive, but reassuring as if she meant to protect _him_. Elena was well aware of the fact Bonnie had a big heart, but there was a different energy surrounding the two of them.

She didn't_ like_ it.

Elena licked her parched lips. "Bonnie…I know you don't want me to be angry with Damon, but he had no business leaving you alone and then you were sold…into slavery…" she was trying to keep her anger in check.

Bonnie looked up at Damon with her doe-brown eyes. "I was mad at him for longer than a day. Can you believe it?" she giggled a bit. She faced her friend again. "Damon has apologized. In his own way."

Stefan observed as Bonnie flushed. He flicked his leaf green eyes to his brother who looked just as embarrassed and when Stefan squinted he saw a very faint, but light pink tint to Damon's cheeks.

_Damon wouldn't_, Stefan thought.

Yet why wouldn't he?

Stefan knew bringing up what was on the tip of his tongue right now would be very imprudent on his part, so he kept his mouth shut for the time being. But the minute he got his brother alone he was going to go deep-sea diving in his ass for answers.

Worriedly, Stefan cast his eyes on Elena wondering if she would put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"What are you even doing here?" Bonnie asked a question of her own. "What's going on in Fell's Church?"

Grave looks washed over Elena and Stefan's faces.

"Things are worse than ever," Elena confessed. "We barely made it here."

"So you just left Meredith, Matt, and Ms. Flowers to fend for themselves?" Bonnie nearly screeched.

Guilt was the next emotion to cross over the Romeo and Juliet-esque pair.

"We really didn't have a choice," Stefan spoke up. "Things had been going to hell in a hand basket and we figured we better split up for the time being. Besides, we figured there might be something in this dimension we could use to reverse the curse of the kitsune."

Elena stepped away from Stefan and took Bonnie by the arm. Although a week at the most had passed since the last time they saw one another, Elena felt as if she hadn't laid eyes on Bonnie in a lifetime.

"I need a minute."

Being alone with Elena was the last thing Bonnie wanted, but she nodded and led the way to her temporary bedroom. She knew better than to look back at Damon, but she did anyways and was more than giddy that his eyes were planted on her.

The two brothers watched their paramours leave. The quiet of the hall surrounded them. Damon had never really been at a loss for words in his entire life. But now he didn't know what to say to Stefan who he knew was already buzzing with a million and one questions he wanted to ask.

"Not out here," Damon said and like Bonnie had done, led his brother to his bedroom, although he probably should have found a private study considering his room was across the hall from Bonnie's. Which unfortunately would put him in striking range of Elena's fingernails if Bonnie told her of their exploits.

Stefan didn't bother looking around at the opulent décor. This was his first time being a guest in Lady Ulma's estate. He had to admit he liked it. It had been designed to take one's mind off the fact that the rest of the world wasn't as decadent as this place.

Folding his arms over his chest, Stefan leaned up against a wall. "I can see there's something on your mind, Damon, although there's a curiosity of mine I'd like to have cured."

"What?" Damon barked and felt his gums itching. He could use a gallon of blood right about now.

A smirk that rivaled Damon's lifted a corner of Stefan's lips. "Something has altered in your…ah…relationship with Bonnie. She's been besotted with you for quite sometime. I was merely wondering if you might have taken advantage of that."

Damon snorted. "First I have no honor and loyalty and now I'm a deflowering creep who has to make off with innocent maidens in the middle of the night, and steal them away to a different dimension."

Stefan hunched a shoulder. "I think you just described yourself perfectly."

And as he suspected, the lapels of his jacket were balled into Damon's tight fists. "Hear this," Damon hissed. "What transpired between me and Bonnie is just that, Stefan! Between me and Bonnie. Put your nose where it does not belong and I will have no problems rearranging your face. Understand, _boy_!"

Damon had expected Stefan to throw his own weight around, but what he got was his brother's laughter.

Incensed, Damon was fully prepared to throttle him, but he flung Stefan away.

"What did you do, Damon?" Stefan asked a bit wearily. His opinion of his brother was already low.

"What do you think, Stefan?" the vampire in question retaliated.

Stefan might not know all the mechanics of boy-girl relationships but it didn't take a genius for him to figure this out. Stefan rubbed a hand across his forehead. A human move but one that seemed fitting in this situation.

"Damon, how could you! She's just a child!"

He hadn't seen Bonnie naked to make that kind of assumption. She might have behaved as a child but she certainly had all the parts of a woman.

Stefan waited for Damon to say something biting and insulting and when nothing came, he wasn't sure what to make of it. Either Damon was proud of his behavior or he regretted his actions. It was always difficult to tell which way the wind blew with his older brother. Damon had never been shy on letting Stefan know how much he loathed him and wanted to wipe his existence out with an eraser, but as of late they found a common ground, some kind of balance and were able to put their differences aside all to keep Elena and her friends safe.

Damon acted on a whim, followed his own drummer, but Stefan could always credit his brother with being smart.

Sleeping with Bonnie might have been the dumbest move Damon could have made.

"Why would you take things to that level with Bonnie knowing how she feels about you, and knowing she _knows _how you feel about her best friend? What were you hoping to accomplish? To make her more confused than she already is? To laugh behind her back at how inadequate she really is in comparison to Elena?"

There was a whimper. Soft. Almost inaudible but loud enough that both vampire siblings did hear.

Damon spun around so fast he made himself dizzy. Stefan followed suit and immediately felt ashamed. He had only meant to speak his mind to his brother. He didn't stop to take into account that he might have been shouting the whole time while doing so.

Bonnie's mouth opened, shut, opened again. A tear ran down a molten cheek followed by another. Seeing her cry shattered what was left of the rock that encased his soul, and Damon's first instinct was to rush over to her, but he stopped dead in his tracks when Elena's face came into view.

Her expression mirrored Bonnie's. Full of pain, hope, disappointment, and outrage. Damon wanted to beat Stefan senseless, wanted to lob his head clean from his shoulders.

Stefan immediately began apologizing, tripping over his words and fumbling through his explanation. His words seemingly went in one ear and out the other.

Bonnie kept her gaze locked on Damon willing him to do something, say something, refute everything Stefan just assumed.

"You didn't?" Bonnie heard Elena say over her shoulder. Her voice was cold, hollow like an abandoned and condemned house. Bonnie could only recall hearing Elena speak in that voice twice in her life. Once after her parents died, and then when she first met Damon.

Perhaps now would be the time for Damon to either prove to everyone what he bastard he really is, or do the right thing and not run from his responsibility. Decision made he walked over to Bonnie.

He kept his gaze locked on her because she was the only one who deserved an explanation. He ran the pad of his thumb over her cheek, hoping to soothe away the ache of Stefan's accusations. She probably wondered and thought the same things, and that made Damon feel like an absolute loser. In the past he never gave a rat's ass on what anyone thought of him. But now things were different.

_He_ was different.

He did care after all.

"What happened between me and Bonnie is private. I don't regret it for a second, and if she'll have me, I'm hers." Damon lifted his eyes away from her face to look at Elena who looked ready to annihilate the entire world.

Elena fell at a loss. She didn't know how to process this to where it made logical sense in her mind. Damon was only supposed to care about _her._ He had courted her. Pursued her. Shared his blood with her. Drank her blood. Made love to her with his kisses. Protected her. Took a beating for her. Declared his love for her. She was his princess. She was his angel. Not Bonnie.

Bonnie didn't know anything about loving or being with a man like Damon. She was too much of a child. Damon would do nothing but take advantage of her. Bonnie was fragile. Always had been and always would be. Damon made it pointedly clear that he liked strong, powerful women. Bonnie didn't fit that bill. Yes—she was a powerful telepath, but she made a lousy witch. She fainted and cried all the time. She thought being choked to death by a hot guy was romantic for goodness sake! He found all of that charming? Sweet? Sexy?

What the hell is wrong with him?

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Elena said out loud. She pushed past Stefan and entered the bedroom. She ignored Bonnie who tried to insert herself in the middle. "You don't love her, Damon."

"Are you the _only _person he's allowed to care about?" Bonnie asked with an edge to her tone.

Hearing Bonnie speak snapped Elena out of her anger for a second.

"Are you the only girl in the whole damn world who is worthy of love and the rest of us peasants be damned? Because whatever and _who_ever Elena Gilbert wants she's entitled to just because she fucking exists!"

Elena gasped so did Stefan after that colorful expletive spewed from Bonnie's mouth.

Damon had heard every bit of Elena's mental tirade and it was by the skin of his teeth that he kept his hands to himself. Her projected thoughts had given him a headache. Yet he couldn't help but puff his chest out a little in pride while listening to Bonnie defend herself. This was something she should have done years ago instead of letting everyone order her around.

Elena tried to backtrack. "Bonnie that's not… I would never…I meant…he will only hurt you one day. Be smart and realize this. Damon is only capable of loving Damon and sometimes he doesn't do that well. You can't possibly expect to think that one night with him is going to change anything."

"One night?" Bonnie's eyebrows furrowed. So now she was only a one night stand?

Elena caught her meaning and she grew hot and angry all over again. They slept together more than once! If it had happened one time, Elena could have gotten over it in time, but it appeared that was not the case. Had they been fucking since they got here?

"This has happened more than once?" Elena's furious eyes flew from Bonnie to Damon and back again.

"It's none of your business how many times we've been together. You're my best friend, Elena. You're supposed to be happy for me. Why are you acting like this? You have your boyfriend."

Yes, but they weren't sleeping together! That was the whole point. God, could she not get that?

"Okay, time out," Stefan interjected. He noticed his brother was literally vibrating, wanting to unleash his Power and flatten this entire estate. Turn it into one pile of rubble. "Emotions are running high and a lot has been exposed. We have bigger more pertinent problems to deal with. Elena," Stefan placed himself in her line of vision, "Bonnie is an adult and she's free to make her own decisions. You need to respect who she's chosen to be with. The same goes for Damon."

Elena didn't want to be rational. What she wanted was an explanation. Why not me? She thought and glared at Damon, practically pleading with him to say this was all some cruel, twisted joke he and Bonnie decided to play. There was no way in the world their relationship could have gone to _that _level in almost no time flat. Hell, Elena hadn't even made it past second base with Stefan.

She and Stefan were a couple. Damon never even took Bonnie out on a date or a walk through the park. Sure he saved her life a couple times but did that really equate to Bonnie giving him her virginity?

They had seen one another naked. Bonnie had touched Damon in secret places, as he touched her. She got to feel the weight of his body on her. Got to experience his unbridled passion.

Elena felt hot all of a sudden. She wasn't a fainter, but it was becoming difficult for her to feel her feet on the floor.

Stefan noticed her green pallor. For his part, he wanted to be happy for his brother and Bonnie, but there just seemed something shady about this whole ordeal and how everything transpired. Not that he needed intimate details, but for Damon to go from openly pursuing Elena to sleeping with her best friend, that was not the behavior of a gentleman. Liar and deceiver Damon could be on the average day, at heart he was a courtier. He had manners and couth. Did he always exercise them—no, but he had labeled Bonnie a maid and treated her accordingly.

The younger Salvatore tried his very best not to feel slighted by his own girlfriend. Elena had him, had everything he was. If she wanted the moon, he'd figure out someway to lasso it and bring it to her. But Elena had needs that Stefan couldn't meet. He wasn't naïve. Damon brought out another side to her. A side she fought tooth and nail to deny existed, but it was plain to see by her behavior tonight, that she felt her mate had been taken from her.

He sighed inwardly wondering when the cycle of sharing all that was good in his life with his brother would ever end.

Stefan took Elena gently by the arms, "Maybe you should sit down. It's been a long, exhausting twenty-four hours. You haven't slept much or eaten anything."

"I'm fine," Elena tried to push his hands away, but Stefan held on to her and basically kept her upright.

Bonnie didn't like fighting with her friends, but Elena had no right to attack her or make her feel as if someone like Damon shouldn't waste his time with a girl like her. They made an odd pair, but they got each other and that was the important thing. If Elena couldn't see that past her jealously, there was little Bonnie could do to convince her otherwise.

The red-headed witch made eye contact with Stefan. He apologized without uttering a single word. It was all in his look. Bonnie nodded her head in acceptance. She knew Stefan's anger was born out of a place of concern for her. He out of everyone knew Damon best. Knew what his brother was and wasn't capable of. He only meant to shield her from future rejection. Bonnie could appreciate it. She just wished this whole ordeal had been handled better.

She didn't say anything as Stefan led Elena out of the room. Alone with Damon her self-consciousness flared to life. Was he now having doubts? Did he want to take back everything he just said to Elena and his brother?

"I meant what I said, Bonnie," Damon attempted to quell her fears. He wasn't naïve about this. Things between them would be rough and difficult. He couldn't promise her a happy ending. Happiness had never been the point of his immortality. Yet being around Bonnie made him long for a simpler life.

Her big brown eyes found his dark, swirling pools. "I know you did, Damon and thank you for not casting me to the wolves." Pause. "This isn't going to be easy, will it?"

He shook his head wanting to paint an honest picture. "No it won't. My brother and Elena aside, there are others who won't approve of our…relationship."

Bonnie's eyes brightened yet she said cautiously, "Is that what you want? A relationship?"

Damon could tell she was holding her breath. At the moment he just wanted to turn back the hands of time to late last night and early this morning where it had been the two of them. Alone. Enraptured in their own old world between silken sheets and laughter.

"We can talk about that later, cara, but right now we have to finish making the preparations for our return back to Fell's Church."

Something inside of Bonnie deflated. That wasn't what she wanted to do. She didn't want to pack, and she _certainly_ did not want to return to running for her life either. She wanted to remain here, behind the high walls and opulent security of Lady Ulma's. She wanted to fall asleep in Damon's arms, and wake up in his arms, and have him kiss her until she went blind, and whisper sweet nothings in her ear. That's what she wanted. She didn't want to be bothered by an entitled and petulant Elena. Bonnie didn't want to be assaulted with Stefan's pained and apologetic looks. She just wanted to lock herself and Damon away in the highest tower and live the life he searched high and low for.

Was that really so much to ask for?

Bonnie had never been good at masking her feelings. She not only wore them on her sleeve, but she broadcast them on her face and in her thoughts. Damon wanted to promise her that nothing between them would change now that they had faced off with Elena and was just moments away from returning to that hell hold in Virginia. He had always been good about keeping his promises, but he knew he'd have to exercise caution.

"Well, then," Bonnie started and then stopped. "I guess I better schlep off to my room and finish getting ready. It's just too bad we have to go back to Fell's Church. I kind of wanted to find all that lost treasure those two kitsune found in the far realm of the dark dimension. It would have been a cool adventure."

Damon blinked. "What lost treasure?"

"It was a story in one of the star balls you left me. A brother and sister kitsune had traveled to this outer realm where they were shown these hidden treasures. The condition was they could only pick one door to go to into, and take one treasure. So they decided to open up all the doors at once and take what they could, but because they violated the rules the doors were shut and they were trapped inside, separated from each other. Inside one of the rooms was the largest star ball in existence."

The wheels in Damon's head were turning. If this was a story recorded into a star ball, that would have been impossible considering the kitsune were trapped inside of the rooms. That wasn't a story she had, but a vision.

Bonnie's eyes lit up once she realized it as well.

Damon hauled her closer and kissed her senselessly on the mouth. "My brilliant little red bird, you may just very well be the key to saving your world."

"Awesome," Bonnie beamed and then her eyes darkened. "See I'm more than just a lousy witch."

Damon's eyes widened for a second before he chuckled. His excellent, naughty little telepath.

Chapter end.

**A/N: In the last chapter, in some of the reviews I had gotten (which I appreciate every one by the way) some felt that Bonnie had matured and I'm not sure if you found that was a good or a bad thing. I wrote her that way for a reason because her childishness really irritated me lol. While Meredith and Elena were painted to be strong warrior-women, Amazons if you will, Bonnie was kind of left behind in her one-dimensional nit-wit role, so I merely wanted to break her out of that. And she carried that same attitude of standing up for herself in her showdown with Elena. And yep, I purposely wrote Elena to be a bitch. I told myself this would be the last chapter, but I may do an epilogue of what happens after they all go off after the star ball. I won't be re-telling all of that, but maybe show them returning to Fell's Church, that is if I'm motivated to write. So I hoped you guys liked this chapter. If you'd like one final chapter let me know. Until then…smooches!**


	4. Epilogue

**A/N: Here is the last chapter in You Only Live Once. I changed something's. I don't follow what happened while Stelena/Bamon went on to find the star ball. I really don't touch on that at all. They are making their way back across the dark dimension via ship instead of those large animals they were riding on. Hope you enjoy and thank you SO MUCH for your patience but above all that for reading!**

Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. No copyright infringement is intended.

"_No, Damon! Watch out!"_

Elena woke out of her sleep, drenched in sweat despite the cold weather. She had had nightmares that seemed and felt all too real in the past, but more so after she became involved with Stefan. However her dream felt more like a premonition.

They had been traveling for days it seemed trying to make it back to Fell's Church. The sea was vast in the dark dimension. Limitless. And they initially got what they were after, but still the trip felt ominous. Even more so since they were so close to their goal.

Elena should have been happy that in a few hours they would be able to save her town from imminent destruction but she wasn't. She hadn't been happy since she learned the truth of Damon's attachment to Bonnie, learned that the two of them became intimate and were lovers in _every _sense of the word. Her thoughts, she knew, where a betrayal to the love she had in her heart designated for Stefan, but that inner queen that Elena had developed throughout the years after being worshipped as the "princess" of her realm mourned the loss of her potential suitor.

She was sure that what burned in her heart for Damon was love, not lust in its highest and most uncontrollable form, but true and pure love. He was able to reach and touch places that Stefan had yet to unearth which gave him a slight advantage. Deep down, Elena knew this wasn't right. Her choice had been Stefan—it would always be Stefan, yet her heart wanted Damon as well.

The ship rocked in a side to side motion that would have made Elena sick instantly, but Lady Alma had prepared a special mead to counter seasickness. Throwing the heavy sheepskin and leather blankets off, Elena quickly stuffed her feet in her boots and threw on her coat.

It didn't take her long to find Damon. He was on the main deck staring out towards the ocean, standing perfectly still like a chiseled piece of stone, a creation of the finest artists in Renaissance Italy. She hesitated for a moment just allowing her eyes to drink their fill of him because she knew her days were numbered in being alone with him like this.

Elena might be a lot of things but she loved her family and she loved her friends—especially Bonnie. She would never be able to forgive herself for trampling on her friend's happiness simply because she couldn't accept the fact that Damon Salvatore had moved on, found someone else to love who was free to love him in return. Already pain was cutting deep into her heart, threatening to slice off her aorta causing her to bleed internally. If they had met at another time. If she had met him first. Maybe if he weren't Stefan's brother. Maybe, maybe, maybe and intuition still told Elena that they would only end up right here.

As she closed the space separating them, Elena thought of the story of how her grandparents met. Her grandmother told her that there were certain people in the world who were just destined to be together, no matter what.

Now she stood close to Damon but not close enough to touch. That masculine scent of his tickled her nose and she inhaled the air deeply. So many thoughts were buzzing through her mind, Elena was finding it troublesome to keep up with them. The air between them instantly began to fill with tension, but it wasn't the tension she had grown accustomed to feeling. This was different in that he seemed to be weary of _her_, when in their sordid past Elena had always been the one who kept her guard up when they shared the same space. Damon was like a supernova. He sucked you in, overwhelmed you and consumed everything about you. And you would be too preoccupied by his beauty and deep voice to notice.

"You should be resting," he said, still looking out towards the ocean.

"I couldn't sleep. I have too much on my mind."

"Then perhaps my brother is more equipped to help ease your mind, Elena."

There was no bite or warning, not even playful seduction to his tone. Another piece inside of her withered and died. Emotionally it seemed Damon was done with her. It was a harsh reality, a tough pill to swallow that she had very little leverage left.

Very tentatively, Elena's hand reached up to run her fingers through his hair. The strands tickled her skin and she was waiting for him to respond. He did but only to pull her hand away.

Damon sighed and turned to face Elena. Even in the darkness, she still appeared as a flame in the night, a lighthouse to guide the way. Her blonde hair feathered around her shoulders, that attractive face was so beautiful it was almost painful to stare at her, and those eyes, a man could get lost in those lapis lazuli eyes. Yet…

All of it paled in comparison to that redheaded minx who with one simple look could reduce him to a besotted peasant boy.

Even now, in his mind's eye, Damon was envisioning Bonnie's smooth face, and her puckered rosebud lips, and those overly large and very luminous chocolate eyes, and her wild scarlet hair. She was sleeping in the quarters below and before Elena joined him, Damon had been counting the beats of Bonnie's heart.

He had gotten up to nine thousand and seventy-five when his attention was diverted.

"What is it you want to talk to me about? I'm assuming that's why you're here with me instead of with Stefan."

Was Damon going to make it a point to bring up his brother every single time she just wanted a moment alone with him, she wondered? This was yet another recent development considering Damon usually spoke about Stefan with disdain and scorn coating his words. In the past he never would have suggested Elena go to Stefan since Damon had been the one with all the answers, the answers she needed.

Elena pushed her hair behind her ear. "Yes, I wanted to talk to you," she nibbled a corner of her lip. "Maybe I shouldn't be asking this, at least not now but…how do you really feel about Bonnie?"

"I'm sorry but my feelings for her are private and a matter that's between me and her."

"So that means you haven't told her how you feel?"

"Look, Elena…I know all of this is shocking to you. Trust me when I say that I'm just as shocked by it. I mean…I've always had a soft spot for my little red bird and being here in this world," Damon looked up at the sky, "it changed things, opened my eyes. I can't keep chasing after a girl who is promised to another. It's time I let you go."

Elena's nose began to tingle a definite sign that she was about to start crying. "You're letting me go," she stared down at her fingers. "For good?"

Damon lifted her chin with his finger. "I want a future with Bonnie and I can't achieve that if I'm still holding on to you. You're free. My brother loves you, and I know you love him. What we had…I'll miss it, but I would miss Bonnie more if I had to give her up."

"How can you say that?!" Elena burst suddenly. It was a question she meant to poise in her diary and then obsess over for days, maybe even weeks. None of this was making a lick of sense to her. Damon loved _her_. She _knew _it. She's seen his love for her reflected in those dark pools he had the nerve to call eyes. She's felt it in the way he held her, kissed her, petted her hair, made her feel like a wanton goddess amongst mortals. He couldn't just take it all back like it meant nothing and just expect her to deal with it.

_Not this nonsense again, _Damon thought and prepared himself for Elena's strike.

Elena began to pace angrily along the deck. "I don't understand where all this…this devotion to Bonnie is coming from. You've done nothing but refer to her as a child, a _maid _and one night of fucking has changed your entire opinion about her!" she stopped and glowered at him. "I'm guessing she must have a golden…"

"Do _not _finish that sentence or I will throw you overboard, Elena," Damon spat almost venomously. "I don't have to explain myself to you, Stefan, the old hag in that dilapidated house, Mutt, the vampire slayer, no one, Elena. And you had _better_ remember that."

The look on his face certainly wasn't filled with love. If he could strangle her and getaway with it, he would have, was the expression on his face. Elena gulped nervously knowing she had poked a sleeping lion.

"You want to be angry with me—that's fine. I'm not stopping you, but don't you dare go after Bonnie with your jealously. Understand this, those who make her unhappy will have to deal with me, and woman or not I will lay you low. Got it, princess?" he muttered snidely.

Elena lifted her chin and curtly nodded her head. Damon had never spoken to her so bitingly before.

"I had hoped things could remain civil between us but now I see that isn't an option," Damon continued. "I've made my choice and nothing, and I do mean _nothing _is going to change my mind."

Damon stilled and cocked his head for a moment. The malice that had been on his face was instantly replaced with an almost boyish smile.

"Now if you'll excuse me, my lady of the night is up and she's demanding my presence and I shan't keep her waiting."

Elena watched as Damon walked with a definite pep to his step as he went to the woman who now held his heart.

That would be their last time being alone.

* * *

**Three years later…**

Her giggles were soft yet still reverberated through the valley as she walked towards her destination. Soon the sound was overpowered by the enthusiastic yelping of her five-month old Siberian husky that ran alongside of her on its short little legs. Bonnie smiled down at her puppy as she braced her hand on the door to the three story Mediterranean villa located on the outskirts of Fell's Church.

The clink of her diamond encrusted platinum band on the metal of the door caught her attention. The usual zing of happiness that followed at staring down at that piece of jewelry didn't disappoint. Pushing her ginger curls out of the way since the wind was so intent on blowing them into her eyes, she opened the back door, wild flowers in one hand, and walked inside.

Her bare feet touched the heated tiled floors of the kitchen as Sebastian, her dog, zipped through her legs and ran towards his water bowl, greedily lapping up the contents inside.

"Slow down, Sebastian or you'll choke like you always do," she said to the animal who didn't even bother to lift its head to acknowledge her suggestion.

Shaking hers in return, Bonnie took the service staircase from the kitchen up to the third floor. She hummed a little tuneless melody as she approached the master bedroom.

Opening yet another door, Bonnie stared at the lump hiding under the Egyptian sheets and comforter.

Bonnie placed the floors on top of the dresser next to the door. In three strides she cleared the space and then proceeded to jump on the bed, more to the matter on top of the body hibernating.

"Get up," Bonnie attempted to pull the covers away only for them to be snatched out of her hands. "It's a beautiful morning and you're missing it."

Her next attempt had been a failure as well. Sighing, Bonnie stretched herself atop the person hiding from the world and rested her chin on her hands which she decided to turn into a makeshift pillow.

"Vampires are nocturnal," a muffled voice said.

"What was that? I can't hear you since you're buried under all that fabric," Bonnie responded and poked what felt like a shoulder. It could have been his neck for all she knew.

The rustling sheets caught her attention and a disheveled crown of jet black hair came into view, followed by a narrowed pair of eyes that matched the hair, then to her delight that sensuous mouth was revealed.

It was still hard for Bonnie to process the fact that it had been three years since she helped in the quest to save her town, three years since she lost her virginity to the vampire of her dreams, three years since her life changed irrevocably.

Staring into those eyes hurtled Bonnie back through time to three years prior.

Bonnie saw herself standing on a street in Fell's Church that was littered with debris and several burning cars. She, Stefan, Elena, and Damon had made it back but unfortunately they had returned to a world that was in utter chaos, on the brink of destruction. Bonnie didn't like to think of how close she came to death, how close they all came. She had actually tasted it, got to know it on an almost Biblical level. But what she really didn't want to think about was Damon pushing her out of the way when Miaso threw a wooden spear towards her, but Damon had intervened and was the one to take the hit.

Life seemed to stop because though her butt hit the ground—_hard_, her concern wasn't for her bruised derrière, it had been for Damon. Had the wooden spear pierced his heart? Was he dead? Had he died trying to save her? Bonnie had scrambled over broken glass to reach Damon.

It was ghastly seeing that spear sticking out of his back; blood flowing and forming a circle around him. She ignored it as best she could, tramped down her hysteria, and rolled him over as much as the makeshift javelin would allow.

His eyes had been closed and for one terrifying moment that's how Bonnie thought they would remain for all eternity. She had pleaded for Damon to open his eyes, to call her some name she didn't deserve because she had been overcome by a foolish moment of bravery where she thought she could save everyone single-handedly. Of course things didn't work out that way, they never did. She wasn't a warrior like Elena and Meredith. She was just little Bonnie McCullough a third-rate psychic and a mediocre witch. She hadn't been powerful enough to restore order to her world. She hadn't been handpicked by a council of guardian spirits to save the world from evil.

Her number had been the number that was up that night, but Damon saved her, and because he saved her that meant he had to die.

"Damon, _please_…" Bonnie whimpered and beat his chest with her little curled fist hoping that would be enough to rouse him from unconsciousness.

An eternity passed if you asked her before her ears were bombarded with the sweetest sound, a stream of Italian style cursing.

"Fuckin' hell," Damon groaned and wrapped one hand around the spear and broke off the piece sticking from his chest. Sitting up, grunting and dropping F-bombs like Al Pacino, Bonnie watched in morbid fascination as Damon pulled the remaining spear out of his back.

"You're alive!" Bonnie said in a delayed reaction and threw her arms around him probably causing him more pain but too delirious with joy to care.

Damon had gripped her by the arms and pulled her away, then kissed her hard on the mouth. "That's the last time I plan to take wood for you. That shit hurts, Bonnie."

Bonnie held up a hand. "After this no more saving the world diabolical schemes I promise."

Damon kissed her again and then went off to repay the favor to Miaso. He had had a ball.

Once the battle was done and their enemies were dead, repairing the town had been next on the list.

Elena had fallen a little off her rocker when she thought Damon was dead-dead, and some crazy unexplainable supernatural stuff happened that to this day Bonnie still couldn't make heads or tails of. All that really mattered to her was that everyone she loved and cared about was alive, breathing, and could move on, have a future.

Time shifted as it normally did and she and Damon spent that time getting to know one another. He bought a house in town, came over twice a week—officially to have dinner with her family, took her to the movies, restaurants, plays, made love her to like a starving man, and then one day out of the clear blue it seemed he said…

"Marry me."

They had been lying in bed watching a movie. Bonnie, face stuffed with graham crackers, stopped mid-chew to stare up at Damon. She had been using his chest as a pillow.

"What?" Bonnie managed to say.

"I know this isn't the formal or traditional way to ask one's lover to become a wife, but nothing about our relationship has been orthodox."

"Wait," Bonnie held up a hand and then scrambled out of bed. If she were about to be proposed to, she couldn't with crumbs around her mouth and her hair imitating a bird's nest. She ran into the bathroom, brushed her teeth, brushed her hair, glossed her lips, and then sprayed a little perfume behind her ears. She stared at her attire. Being proposed to in a periwinkle blue camisole top with matching boy shorts wouldn't be so bad, right?

She came sprinting out of the bathroom and jumped up on the bed trying to keep a straight face but was failing miserably. Her cheeks were heating and she was practically bouncing around. Damon chuckled.

"Are you decent now? Or would you like to put on that Marchesa gown you got during our trip to Paris?"

Bonnie's gaze wondered over to the closet. It was a tempting idea but she didn't want to chance leaving the bed again, have Damon's notorious impatience rear its ugly head, and have him take the offer off the table.

"No, I'm good. You were saying," she batted her eyelashes.

Damon licked his lips trying to get back to the spontaneity of the moment. "As I was saying…I've lived for over five hundred years and for those five hundred years I convinced myself that I needed a princess of darkness to complete my life. But I was wrong. Darkness isn't what saved me, it was light, and that light is you, Bonnie. I want to spend the rest of eternity with you."

Bonnie watched as Damon reached under his pillow and extracted a black velvet box. He pulled open the hood to reveal a perfect platinum band outfitted with diamonds so brilliant it almost hurt to stare at the ring.

Her hands flew up to her mouth as she brought her whiskey colored eyes to Damon. Eyes that were filling with tears.

"Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife, Bonnie McCullough? And put this bachelor into retirement?"

She didn't even need to think. "YES!"

Damon slipped the band on. Bonnie admired it for two seconds before jumping on him and then jumping his bones.

The minute news broke it seemed everyone had an opinion. They were too young to get married was her parents' primary argument whereas her friends felt she and Damon were so fundamentally different it would never work, and then there was the vampire thing to consider. Bonnie hadn't given much thought to turning but she would one day, just not now, but only when the time was right and it was no longer unavoidable.

If you want to be with someone for forever then you had to live forever. She knew that but like her parents said, she was young.

Bonnie did find it quite funny that when she went to go visit her parents her mother would always be a little panicky wondering if Bonnie would tell her to address her by her married name. Bonnie figured that was her mother's greatest fear, that she and Damon would elope and she'd missed watching her baby girl have a traditional wedding: church, priest, and bridesmaids.

She and Damon had agreed on having a long engagement. Bonnie had wanted to experience college life, and she wanted to mature a little more. She couldn't go from being boy crazy to a wife. There were steps involved, she was sure of it.

Of course Elena didn't take the news so well. Bonnie wouldn't say Elena's stint with psychosis was the product of her engagement to Damon, but Bonnie would say it may have been a catalyst. Her heart had broken for Stefan who tried to be there for Elena but she was just so inconsolable and uncontrollable that Aunt Judith and her husband Robert had Elena checked into a psychiatric facility in New York. Stefan went to go visit her religiously, as did Meredith and Matt. Bonnie felt it best she and Damon stay away until Elena was a little more stable. She was on the mend now but still had her bad episodes.

Bonnie shook off those thoughts and instead focused on her fiancé. They were getting married next summer in Italy just weeks after Bonnie's graduation from Dalcrest University.

Damon stretched his arms over his head and then pulled Bonnie closer. She transferred her head to his chest as he burrowed a hand in her curls.

"How did you sleep?" Bonnie asked and placed a kiss to the back of his hand.

"Fitful. I was missing something."

"Oh really and what was that?"

"A woman about your height, weight, and shape, but definitely less hyper."

That earned him a pinch to his nipple.

"Since it's been established that I'm the morning person between us, someone had to take Sebastian on his walk."

"And that's why I was against owning a dog in the first place. Too much work and you pay him far more attention than you do me," Damon sniffed.

Bonnie laughed. "You do realize you're jealous of a puppy?"

"A puppy that feels it's his birthright to sit in my fiancé's lap whenever the mood suits him. He needs to learn how to share."

"I always wondered how it would feel to be caught in a love triangle, but this wasn't exactly what I had in mind."

Damon angled her head up and covered Bonnie's lips with his drowning her, making her excited and fiend for his touch. His tongue invaded her mouth like it was Normandy Beach and Bonnie was of course quick to surrender. Everything tingled from her individual hair follicles to her toe nails. The synapses in her brain fired and woke up every single nerve ending and cell in her body that she was practically buzzing.

"Good morning," Damon said after disengaging his mouth from Bonnie's.

"Morning."

"Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

"No," Bonnie whispered breathlessly.

"Neither have I. Perhaps I should get started," a dangerous glint came into his eyes.

Bonnie tried to scramble away. "Oh, no."

"Oh, yes," Damon trapped her under him and kissed her again. Bonnie moaned and sighed happily. When Damon pulled away she turned her head to the side revealing her neck, heart racing because she knew what was coming next. "This will only hurt a bit."

"You say that every time."

"And I mean it every time."

"I know."

"I'm glad. Be still."

"You know I can't. It's almost impossible because your hands," Bonnie blushed. She couldn't finish her thought but Damon already knew what she was alluding to. His hands usually disappeared under her clothes distracting her from the fact his fangs were buried in her neck.

Pleasure ripped through Damon because he could say with pride that only _his _fangs and his er…person had ever invaded Bonnie. She was completely and undeniably his.

Yet what he loved most was that even after all this time he could still make her blush, could still revert her back to that eighteen year old girl he met, and whom he kissed professing a kiss from a redhead could cure any aliment. Yep, Damon thought that was the night he probably sealed his fate.

Very gently he turned Bonnie's face back towards him and stared into her eyes making the same vow he did every morning.

"I love you and only you, my little redbird."

"And I love you and only you, my little dark vampire."

The end.

**A/N: Though it's taken me six months to complete this I can say I'm fairly happy with the results. Yes, Elena went a little mad and developed some type of mental illness at losing Damon quite literally forever. Thank you to everyone who's read this, added to your lists, waited patiently for an update, and of course giving me your feedback. *Spoiler alert* I was disappointed in hearing that Bamon wasn't endgame in the books, but I will do as a blogger on Tumblr said and say that the official Vampire Diaries series ended with Midnight since that is the last official LJ Smith novel, and that the Hunter series is just poorly written fanfiction. Because we all know, or can hope that LJ intended Bamon to either be extremely close by the end or completely and totally together. All right guys, until my muse strikes for another Bamon fic, it's a wrap. Ciao bello! Love you!**


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